Given the health and economic consequences of infections, it is essential to better understand
their mechanisms in order to better control and treat them. Cellular microbiology has greatly advanced
our understanding of the biology of infections. However, many unknowns remain regarding
the mechanisms by which infections unfold in vivo, that is, within an infected living organism.
The trafficking, dynamics, and fate of microbes and infected cells depending on cell type,
particularly during the course of infection, remain unknown. Based on experimental data, we
hypothesize that these processes are essential determinants of the infection’s progression. To
test this hypothesis, our project proposes to determine the dynamics and fate of the bacterial population within the infected host, to generate an atlas of infected cells, and to characterize the spatiotemporal evolution of these cells during infection. The project will achieve these ambitious goals by using the bacterium Listeria as a model pathogen, following a multidisciplinary and integrative approach that combines ex vivo and in vivo infection models with a unique cohort of patients with listeriosis. By placing the infection within the spatio-temporal context in which it occurs, the respective roles of the pathogen and the fate of infected cells in the short- and long-term infectious process will be identified. This project will bring a new
dimension to our understanding of the biology of infections and may contribute to the identification of new
strategies to improve the treatment of infections and prevent their long-term sequelae.
