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
Bhagat S, Kaur K, Petronglo JR, O’Connor L, Wang C, Li Y, Swarnkar G, Khanna K, Cassat JE, Veis DJ, Mbalaviele G. 2026 Staphylococcus aureus inhibits the NLRP3 inflammasome in macrophages to varying degrees during early and late stages of infection. Infect Immun, 94(7):e0020026. PMCID: PMC13367054