The bacterial pathogen, Streptococcus pneumoniae colonizes the upper respiratory tract of healthy children and adults. Despite being a natural colonizer, pneumococci cause life-threatening diseases such as pneumonia, septicemia and meningitis killing over a million people worldwide and has been classified as a priority pathogen by the WHO in 2024. The major theme of my laboratory is to understand the molecular mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis and host-pathogen interactions. We isolate and study the role of extracellular vesicles shed from host immune cells in response to infection using in-vitro cell cultures and in-vivo mouse models. Our lab also studies drugs targeting bacterial virulence factors as antimicrobials using computational and biochemical approaches for treating pneumococcal infections to combat anti-microbial resistance.