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Dr. Ben Koestler is an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Â鶹´«Ã½.

The capacity of bacterial pathogens to cause disease is dependent on their ability to sense and adapt to changing microenvironments in the human host. The Koestler Lab explores mechanisms used by bacteria to integrate host-specific signals into virulence regulation, specifically in the pathogen Shigella. We are using tissue culture models, such as human intestinal enteroids, to study how Shigella senses metabolic byproducts to control the expression of key virulence genes, and how cyclic di-GMP signaling regulates Shigella pathogenesis. 

Koestler lab