email: Ana_Hael@hms.harvard.edu

Enterococcus faecalis is a common member of the human microbiota. In some instances, this bacterium is able to invade tissues and cause systemic infections. We recently discovered that E. faecalis can invade semi-solid substances such as agar. We are interested in characterizing this phenomenon as a proxy for this bacterium's ability to invade tissues. (This work is being done in collaboration with former Kolter Lab post-doc Diana Morales).