Daniel Sorobetea

Microbial pathogens claim the lives of millions of people worldwide each year, while millions more suffer from chronic infections. Increases in antibiotic resistance threaten to undermine already limited treatment options, highlighting an urgent need for new therapeutic approaches. I seek to uncover the fundamental immune mechanisms of pathogen restriction, with the ultimate goal of developing new vaccines and therapies against infectious diseases.

Some infectious microbes have evolved to subvert host immunity, resulting in chronic disease. In these contexts, immune cells adopt an alternative strategy by surrounding and trapping the pathogens within structures called granulomas, temporarily preventing further spread and organ damage. Although generally considered protective, these immune structures also provide a niche from which pathogens can spread should the immune system be compromised, the primary example being reactivation of tuberculosis in patients suffering from AIDS. Granulomas occur in a vast array of diseases from leishmaniasis and histoplasmosis to Hodgkin’s lymphoma and Crohn’s disease. However, despite their long history in histopathologic literature and importance in infectious disease, granulomas pose a problem in clinical settings due to the lack of therapeutic approaches that eradicate pathogens within these structures. Progress has been hampered in large part due to our limited understanding of the basic mechanisms at play, as well as the lack of reliable animal models that faithfully capture the symptoms observed in humans.

Yersinia pseudotuberculosis is a bacterial pathogen that colonizes the intestinal tract of both humans and rodents, causing gastroenteritis and lymphadenopathy. I recently identified granulomas as a niche for Yersinia invasion in the mouse intestine and demonstrated that monocytes and neutrophils of the innate immune system are essential for maintenance of intact granulomas and bacterial restriction, providing a novel tool to dissect the mechanistic basis of granuloma biology.

I am currently exploring how intestinal granulomas are sterilized and cleared. Understanding this process may enable host-directed approaches to enhance immunity against pathogens that are resistant to antibiotics and alleviate granulomatous diseases. I ecnourage those who are interested in pursuing exciting research at the interface between immunology and microbiology to contact me for available positions.

Teaching and mentoring are great passions of mine and I currently lecture at the following courses:

BIOR88 - Immunology and Infection Biology - Lund University

4BI107 - Frontiers in Biomedicine - Karolinska Institutet

C1F3114 - Molecular Immunology - Karolinska Institutet

Throughout my scientific journey, I have had the opportunity to work with students from many different backgrounds, and have learned that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to mentoring. Rather, it needs to be tailored to the needs and goals of the individual and I believe that people perform at their best when they can follow their own path. My mentorship thus aims to empower trainees to steer their projects in the direction that they are passionate about and provide guidance in a way that resonates with them.