Miller, Samuel

The Miller laboratory is focused on defining the molecular basis of bacterial pathogenesis and interactions with eukaryotic cells. The laboratory has a particular interest in bacterial interactions with innate immunity. This work involves the use of animal and tissue culture (mice, macrophages, epithelial cells) models of infection using Salmonella, Pseudomonas, and other bacteria including Shigella. The laboratory is also interested in research in the microbiome and how it relates to inflammatory bowel disease.  Research interests include Salmonellae-induced typhoid fever and gastroenteritis, the chronic Pseudomonas airway disease of cystic fibrosis patients, human diversity in innate immune responses, and the microbiome and intestinal inflammation.

The lab is organized into research groups focusing on the study of: (1) The effect of bacterial type III effector proteins on mammalian cells; (2) The assembly and regulation of the type III secretion system of Salmonella typhimurium, which translocates proteins into mammalian cells on contact; (3) The environmental remodeling of the gram-negative bacterial surface that occurs when bacteria infect host tissues; and (4) The characterization of the phenotypic adaptation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to the unique environmental niche of the CF airway; (5)  bacterial cell signaling and responses to the second messenger c-di-GMP, and (6) the study of human diversity in response to bacteria.  Current projects organized by group include the study of: (1) Salmonellae translocated effectors (which are delivered across the phagosome membrane and recruited to the actin cytoskeleton, nucleus, and phagosome) (2) The mechanisms by which c-di-GMP diversity after cell division is maintained  (3) How anionic phospholipids are regulated within the bacterial membrane to maintain a permeability barrier (4) The effect of different human diseases on the intestinal microbiome and the effects of microbiome transplantation on disease outcomes (5) Bioinformatic analysis and evolution of Salmonella and Shigella genomes; (6) Cellular GWAS experiments to determine diversity of human innate immune responses