She is interested in the evolution of bacterial immunity and in the coexistence/ conflict between mobile genetic elements.
Her Masters research project encompassed phage isolation and characterization for therapy purposes against Vibrio cholerae while her PhD research (University of Exeter) focused on the ecology, evolution and interplay of bacterial defences, which resulted in the discovery and characterisation of the MADS immune system. In particular, she investigated the interaction between MADS and the Type IE CRISPR-Cas of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, as well as the effect of temperature on phage-bacteria coevolutionary dynamics. She is currently studying how prokaryiotic immunity affects the transmission of conjugative plasmids. Connect with Alice on @Alice__Maestri.