The Microbiology, Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology specialization concentrates on the study of host-pathogen interactions at the molecular and cellular levels. Faculty research programs focus on how microorganisms interact with surfaces, how they survive inside and outside of their hosts, how signals are relayed between the microorganism and the host, and how the host responds to these signals.
Faculty in this area study host-parasite interactions to identify the molecular mechanisms responsible for disease, elucidate the functioning of the host's immune response, examine genetic mechanisms that underlie signal transduction, identify and elucidate the genomic content of pathogens, and explore fundamental properties of viruses. The novelty of this specialization is that students can use bacterial, fungal or viral platforms to study the pathogenic mechanisms that lead to disease and the mechanisms preventing disease in plant and/or animal hosts.
Norma Andrews, Professor. Ph.D. University of Sao Paulo, Brazil 1983. Molecular strategies used by intracellular pathogens to subvert host cell function, and membrane traffic events involved in the repair of injured plasma membrane.
Spencer Benson, Associate
Professor. Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles, 1976. Cancer biology and angiogenesis.
Volker
Briken, Associate Professor. Ph.D. University of Paris (France), 1998. Molecular mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions and their
importance for the virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
James Culver, Affiliate
Professor, Center for Biosystems Research, UMBI. Ph.D. University of California, Riverside 1991. Molecular plant-virus interactions; virion assembly,
replication, and long-distance movement of tobacco mosaic virus.
Charles F. Delwiche, Professor. Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1990. Molecular systematics, phylogeny, and evolution of chloroplasts.
Jeffrey DeStefano, Professor. Ph.D. University of Connecticut, 1990. Mechanism of retroviral reverse transcriptases as it relates toreplication and recombination.
Najib El-Sayed, Associate Professor. Ph.D. Yale University School of Medicine, 1993. Biology of parasitismand host-pathogen interactions using genomic approaches with the ultimate goal of better understanding
infection and survival mechanisms.
Eric O. Freed, Adjunct Professor, Chief, Virus-Cell Interaction
Section-NIH. Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1990. Molecular biology of HIV-1 replication; retrovirus assembly and release.
Steven W. Hutcheson, Professor. Ph.D. University of California Berkeley, 1982. Molecular plant pathology; molecular biology of Pseudomonas parasitism; role and regulation of Type III protein secretion
systems; pathogenicity and non host plant resistance.
Sam W.
Joseph, Emeritus Professor. Ph.D. St. John's University (New York), 1970. Bacterial toxins; mechanisms of virulence; emerging causes of human
gastroenteritis; chromosomal and extra chromosomal factors related to bacterial pathogenesis.
Vincent Lee, Assistant Professor. Ph.D. University of California - Los Angles, 2000. Host-pathogen interactions, Molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Allosteric regulation of
molecular complexes.
Roy Mariuzza, Professor. Ph.D. Biochemistry, University of Paris (1986). Structural and molecular basis of ligand recognition by cell surface receptors of the immune system.
Kevin S. McIver, Professor and Associate
Chair. Ph.D. University of Tennessee Sciences Center, 1994. Host-Bacterial pathogen interactions; Molecular mechanisms of virulence gene regulation in
Streptococcus pyogenes; Protein secretion in Francisella tularensis.
David Mosser, Professor. Ph.D. North Carolina State University, 1983. Cell and molecularbiology of macrophages and dendritic cells; regulation of cytokine gene expression; host defense response
to intracellular pathogens.
Anne Simon, Professor. Ph.D.
Indiana University, 1983. Molecular biology of plant-virus interactions.
Wenxia Song, Associate Professor. Ph.D. Kansas State University, 1991. Antigen transport and signal transduction functions of the B cell antigen receptor.
Daniel C. Stein, Professor. Ph.D. University of Rochester, 1981. Molecular genetics; virulence mechanisms of pathogenic bacteria; Characterization of DNA Restriction and Modification Systems.
Richard Stewart, Associate Professor. Ph.D. University of Michigan, 1984. Molecular biology of sensory systems and motility in bacteria.
David Straney, Associate Professor and Associate Chair of
Undergraduate Studies. Ph.D. Yale University, 1987. Fungal molecular biology, host recognition in the induction of pathogenicity genes and
development.
Wade C. Winkler, Associate Professor. Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 2002. RNA-based regulation of gene expression in bacteria.