The Cassat lab studies host-pathogen interactions during invasive bacterial infections, with a specific focus on osteomyelitis. We are also interested in how inflammation and the microbiome impact skeletal cell biology. Finally, we study interconnections between the vertebrate immune and skeletal systems. Current projects include: the study of how S. aureus survives within bone, delineating how co-infecting pathogens shape staphylococcal physiology and virulence during osteomyelitis, discovering how host responses to bacterial pathogens in bone shape bone remodeling, creating new molecular imaging protocols to study the host-pathogen interface during osteomyelitis, elucidating how host comorbidities such as hyperglycemia impact osteomyelitis pathogenesis, and deciphering how inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and the gut microbiota alter bone homeostasis.

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