"We all live in a sea of microbes, and within that sea are friends and foes."

Our immune system faces the challenge of defending us from colonization by microbes that surround us every day.  Some of these microbes are beneficial, and can help us obtain nutrients from the environment.  Others are predatory, and can cause significant damage to the germ-free environments of our bodies.  We seek to identify fundamental principles that explain the outcome of host-microbe interactions, with the goal of understanding how our innate immune system is able to recognize and respond to accidental and pathogenic microbial encounters.