Work in the group centres on two themes: the ecological/evolutionary dynamics of sociality and of virulence. These two themes combine strongly when applied to microbial pathogens, as microbes must often cooperate, communicate and coordinate in order to successfully exploit their hosts.
The major challenges in our current research focus on understanding the complex multi-agent dynamics that shape microbial social interactions. Our recent research has revealed the vital role that mobile genetic elements (molecular parasites of bacteria, such as plasmids and temperate phages) play in driving the evolution of microbial cooperative behaviours and consequent virulence. An additional challenge is to understand the complex multi-species social dynamics governing the establishment, maintenance and transmission of pathogens in the gut and nasopharynx. On a more applied level, a growing interest is in devising novel therapeutic strategies to exploit our emerging understanding of microbial social life. We address these challenges using a mix of analytical modeling, simulations, genomics and experimental evolution.