Extracellular vesicles: messengers between kingdoms

Abstract

This research seeks to understand the immune consequences of the uptake of extracellular vesicles from the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae by mammalian cells. This proposal originated from an observation by Dr. Hiller’s lab in which Streptococcus pneumoniae, a bacterium not known to use extracellular vesicles, was observed interacting with mammalian cells in this way. Dr. Hiller observed altered immune signaling within those mammalian cells after the uptake of the bacterium’s extracellular vesicles. The proposal aims to investigate whether this is a closed loop in which only mammalian cells uptake the bacterium’s extracellular vesicles or whether bacteria also uptake mammalian vesicles and alter their behavior or physiology in response. 

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