The major aims of my group are to understand the integration, the cooperation of signalling, cytoskeleton and membrane trafficking in phagocytosis and its relevance to host-pathogen interactions. The group uses Dictyostelium discoideum as a model for studying innate immune phagocytes, with contributions to understanding cell motility, membrane trafficking, and phagosome maturation. Research established Dictyostelium as a host model for studying pathogenic Mycobacterium marinum infection, which recapitulates M. tuberculosis infection hallmarks. The group discovered that both bacterial species escape vacuoles into the cytosol and are ejected via structures termed "ejectosomes." Recently, they validated two amoebae–M. marinum infection systems for medium-throughput screening of anti-infective compounds.