Current Research and Scholarly Interests
We seek to understand how interactions between bacteria, bacteriophages, and the human immune system impact our health and disease. Our goals are to gain insights into the pathogenesis of bacterial infections and to generate novel therapies to improve human health.
One area of active research is the human immune response to bacteria and bacteriophage. Current efforts are focused on understanding how bacteriophage interact with monocytes and other cells of the innate immune system and how phage shape the immune response to commensal and pathogenic bacteria. Much of this work focuses on chronic lung infections in Cystic Fibrosis and diabetic wound infections.
A second area of research involves the phageome - the collection of bacteriophage within the human body. We each have within us more bacteriophages than either bacteria or human cells but their impact on chronic infections and commensal flora largely unknown. We are developing tools to characterize these phages and to interrogate their contributions to human health and disease.
A third area of active research is the use of bacteriophage to treat bacterial infections. We are working to develop phage therapy, in conjunction with or in place of conventional antibiotics, to treat chronic skin and lung infections. These efforts are focused on the major human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Finally, we study the innate immune response to injury and infection. In particular, we are interested in the roles that tissue inflammation and extracellular matrix polymers such as hyaluronan play in immune regulation.
Looking for a lab?
We are actively recruiting structural biologists, biochemists, immunologists, and microbiologists for post-doctoral positions in the lab. If interested, please contact Dr. Bollyky at pbollyky@stanford.edu
For Stanford Undergraduates interested in joining the lab, we require a minimum commitment of a full year (including full-time work in the lab for at least one summer).
We take high school and undergraduate students through the SSRP program: https://biosciences.stanford.edu/prospective/diversity/ssrp/
