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The respiratory bacterial pathogen, Streptococcus pneumoniae colonizes the nasopharynx of healthy children and adults. Despite being a natural colonizer, S. pneumoniae also causes life-threatening diseases such as pneumonia, septicemia and meningitis worldwide and erythromycin-resistant pneumococci is classified as priority pathogen by the WHO in 2024. The overall goal of my laboratory is to understand the molecular mechanisms of pneumococcal infections and develop targeted therapeutics. A major focus of the lab is to characterize and study the role of host extracellular vesicles in the pathogenesis of bacterial infections. We will also engineer EVs with tailored cargo for precision medicine. A second aspect of our work focusses on drug repurposing strategy wherein we screen compounds to identify inhibitors targeting bacterial virulence factors as potential antimicrobials. Besides, we are also interested in understanding the bacterial adaptation and survival strategies with the host.