Our laboratory is focused on understanding host-pathogen interactions, with emphasis on respiratory pathogens, and to use this knowledge to develop novel preventive and therapeutic strategies to protect against bacterial infection. Our work focuses on both the factors used by bacteria to establish colonization and cause disease and how this is counteracted by host factors in human milk and by the host inflammatory response to colonization and infection. The main research projects in the laboratory are: 1) The study of biofilm formation during bacterial colonization. 2) Applying the information from our pathogenesis studies to develop novel treatment strategies. 3) Studying the direct bactericidal activity and the antibiotic-seistizing activity of a human milk protein-lipid complex (HAMLET, human alpha-lactalbumin made lethal to tumor cells).

Anders Håkansson is Research Group Leader for this research group