Luke O'Connor
Program: Developmental Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology
Current advisor: Deborah J. Veis (Novack), MD, PhD
Undergraduate university: Tufts University, 2017
Enrollment year: 2020
Research summary
host-pathogen dynamics during S. aureus intracellular infection of osteoclasts
Staphylococcus aureus is the main cause of osteomyelitis. Chronic osteomyelitis is resistant to treatment, where intervention fails in approximately 20% of patients. In 2019, the Veis lab discovered that osteoclasts, large multinucleated cells that resorb bone, allow S. aureus to infect them and replicate intracellularly. My research follows up on that work by investigating how nutrient availability- which drastically changes between osteoclast precursors, preosteoclasts, and mature osteoclasts- impacts the ability of S. aureus to grow intracellularly.
Graduate publications