Maria Sandkvist earned her B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Umeå University in Sweden. She completed her postdoctoral work at the University of Michigan and National Institutes of Health. She joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2005, in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.

Her research interests center on the molecular mechanism of protein secretion in bacterial pathogens, with a particular focus on the type II secretion system. Specifically, she wants to understand how proteins to be secreted are recognized and sorted for extracellular delivery and how they contribute to bacterial survival and disease. Among others, her model systems include Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera, which is a life-threatening diarrheal disease endemic to many developing countries, and Acinetobacter baumannii, an opportunistic pathogen known for its persistence in hospital settings and multidrug resistance.

• Mechanism of extracellular protein secretion
• Structure-function analysis of multiprotein complexes and secreted enzymes including toxins
• Bacterial pathogenesis
• Antibacterial therapy
• Antagonistic interactions among bacteria
• Role of proteases in health and disease