The Medical Microbiology And Immunology faculty is internationally recognized, and has a strong record of graduate student and postdoctoral fellow mentoring. Faculty study (1) individual microbes (bacteria, viruses, or fungi), including those relevant to biodefense, with particular emphasis on their biology, bioinformatics, genetic regulation, pathogenesis, and evolution; (2) the host response to infection that can contribute to disease prevention or to autoimmune diseases such as asthma, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis; (3) the biology of Langerhan and dendritic cells, which are often first responders in the skin to infection; (4) the development, differentiation and activation of the innate and adaptive immune systems; (5) novel approaches to vaccine development; and (6) mechanisms to prevent transplant rejection.

Our translational research efforts are aimed at more rapidly moving fundamental research findings from the lab bench to the hospital bedside. Faculty initiatives focus on persistent infections, developing novel vaccines using evolutionary adaptability and robustness principles, and probing the use of microbes in specific cancer therapy.