Malaak Albalawi

I am currently a PhD Student at the Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences at the University of Liverpool. I completed my Masters degree in Infection and Human disease at the University of Leeds. My undergraduate degree was in Microbiology.

Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus), is an extracellular bacterial pathogen which is mostly found as a quiescent coloniser of the human respiratory tract. However, under certain environmental conditions, this commensal can behave as a pathogen, causing a number of serious infections known as invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD). The ability of pneumococci to invade mammalian cells at low frequencies is well described, however, the importance of this intracellular lifestyle has not been clarified. Therefore, my project aims to understand the intracellular lifestyle of pneumococcus inside mammalian cells which is an important step to develop alternative therapeutic approaches and reliable assays for determining treatment effectiveness.