‘Gut, Liver and Friends’ Seminar with Mikael Sellin

• Speaker: Mikael Sellin, University of Uppsala, Sweden
• Title: Gut Bacterial Infection Mechanisms Resolved by Human Organoid Modelling
• Date: 04..02.2026, 12:30 pm
• Venue: UKA, lecture hall 1

Bacterial gut infections represent a globally prevalent cause of disease. Traditionally, the bacterium – host cell interactions that underlie disease development have been studied under simplistic experimental settings, often using tumor-derived cell lines as a proxy for the gut tissue. The Sellin laboratory strives to explain the mechanisms that drive invasive gut bacterial disease – elicited by e.g. Salmonella, Shigella and related enteropathogens – under more physiologically accurate ex vivo conditions. The group combines bacterial genetics and live-cell imaging with methods to culture and conduct infection experiments in organoid models (enteroids and colonoids) of the intestinal tract. In the seminar, Mikael will exemplify how this approach enables high-resolution mapping of how enterobacteria attack and spread within the gut epithelium, and how host responses and therapies may counter this onslaught.