I am a second-year Ph.D. student at LSU Health Shreveport. My lab studies Legionella pneumophila, a Gram-negative intracellular bacteria that parasitize unicellular amoeba that can also infect humans when contaminated aerosolized water droplets are inhaled and deposited in the lungs. In these accidental pulmonary infections, alveolar macrophages support bacterial replication and promote the development of a severe pneumonia-like illness known as Legionnaire’s disease. To survive within a eukaryotic cell, Legionella creates a unique, membrane-bound organelle known as the Legionella-containing vacuole (LCV). This process begins with the recruitment of early endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-derived secretory vesicles to the nascent phagosome occupied by Legionella which stops phagosomal maturation. Ultimately, LCV biogenesis requires the subversion of multiple host processes by Legionella which is accomplished through the translocation of ~300 bacterial proteins into the cytosol of the infected host cell via a conserved type IVb secretion system (T4SS) known as the Dot/Icm apparatus. My project will focus on understanding the mechanism(s) which control the expansion of the LCV lipid bilayer during intracellular bacterial replication. Loss of LCV membrane integrity restricts bacterial replication by triggering a pyroptotic cell death response that allows bystander macrophages to eliminate the bacteria trapped within the corpses of infected cells.