Departmental Primary Faculty and their Research Programs
*Members of the Graduate Faculty are available as mentors to graduate students.
Host-mycoplasma interplay; Mechanisms of cytadherence; Invasion; Intracellular persistence; Molecular basis of virulence; Toxin-mediated cytopathology; Gene regulation
Host-pathogen interactions; Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, CD8+ T cell responses; apoptosis; phagocytosis, gastrointestinal infection
Cytokine and Toll-like receptor signaling; immunity to infection; Francisella tularensis; interleukin-4
Host antiviral defense mechanism: innate immune antiviral and inflammatory response against respiratory RNA viruses like human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza A virus and parainfluenza viruses; virus based anti-cancer therapeutics.
*Subramanian Dhandayuthapani, Ph.D.
Molecular basis of host-pathogen interaction; stress signaling and regulation of gene expression in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycoplasma genitalium
Bacterial host-pathogen interaction in vivo; inflammation; cytokine response; Yersinia; asthma, inflammatory T-cell responses
Molecular genetics; bacterial sporulation; RNA polymerase biochemistry
Control of filamentous growth and virulence in the major fungal pathogen Candida albicans; identification and characterization of novel C. albicans virulence factors; transcriptional regulation; C. albicans genomics
Bacterial genetics; virulence mechanisms in periodontal pathogens; transcriptional regulation; function of microbial surface layer proteins
Immunobiology; Autoimmune disease; Two-way communication between the immune system and autoimmune target tissues; Immune and muscle responses in Myasthenia Gravis
Use of comparative genomics to identify differences between invasive and non-invasive clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae; Identification of novel virulence determinants and assessment of their vaccine potential
Medical mycology; molecular mechanisms of fungal pathogenesis, mating and development in Cryptococcus neoformans, Candida albicans biofilms molecular biology, animal models of invasive aspergillosis
Poxvirus pathogenesis and immune modulation; virus-host interactions; protein structure-function
Molecular basis of Chlamydia-host interactions; Chlamydiae pneumoniae in atherosclerosis; Proteomics analysis of chlamydial hypothetical proteins; Vaccine development
Faculty with Primary Appointments in other Departments
Role of chemokine and chemokine receptors in immune system development, defense against chronic or infectious diseases, and HIV-1 pathogenesis
Bernard P. Arulanandam, Ph.D., M.B.A.
The identification of novel therapeutic/prophylactic vaccine strategies and combinatorial antimicrobial therapies are of continued interest in the field of public health.
Development of human and veterinary vaccines against fungal diseases
Viral oncogenesis, herpesvirus latency and reactivation, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV/HHV8) pathogenesis and molecular epidemiology
Innate and adaptive immune responses to vaccines and viral infections; SIV pathogenesis and vaccine development
Herpesvirus latency and pathogenesis; herpes B virus; zoonoses; microRNAs; vaccine development; antiviral agents; BSL-4
Public health microbiology; enteric bacteriology
Work in my laboratory is primarily concerned with developing disruptive technologies for the detection and inhibition of high consequence pathogens and toxins.
*Anthony J. Infante, M.D., Ph.D.
Immunology; T cell receptor repertoires in health and disease; autoimmunity; immunodeficiency states
Clinical microbiology; mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance and their detection in clinical isolates; new antimicrobial agents
Molecular mechanisms of Vibrio cholerae and Francisella tularensis pathogenesis; transcription regulation; biodefense and food-borne disease vaccine development
Molecular immunology; autoimmunity; bacterial pathogenesis
Molecular biology and pathogenesis hepatitis B virus, and hepatitis C virus
Immunopathogenic mechanisms and protective immunity; in leishmaniasis
Molecular Biology of RNA viruses and development of Anthrax therapeutics
My laboratory studies the opportunistic pathogenic fungus Candida albicans.
Immunobiology, immunology and pathogenesis of neurocysticercosis, immune response to Francisella tularensis