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Molecular Medicine (MMED) Faculty

  • Carol Artlett, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Inflammasome signaling; IL-1 mediated fibrosis; collagen export from the endoplasmic reticulum; miR-155; small molecule therapeutic development

  • Joris Beld, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Chemical biology and microbiology of secondary metabolism in various organisms

  • Lawrence Bergman, PhD

    Professor Emeritus
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Malaria, invasion, global gene expression, merozoite, sporozoite, actin-myosin, microarray, Plasmodium

  • Sujata Bhatia, MD, PhD*

    Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Advancing healthcare; biomedical and biochemical engineering for clinical applications; biomaterials for medical devices; innovative teaching models for clinical immersion, experiential learning, and product design

  • James M. Burns Jr., PhD

    Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Development of protective immunity against malaria induced by immunization with defined subunit vaccines targeting pre-erythrocytic stage, blood-stage and sexual stage parasites.

  • Mary Ann Comunale, EdD, MS

    Associate Professor; Director, Center for Scientific Communications and Outreach
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Scientific: Proteomic and glycoproteomic analysis to identify early markers of disease, analytical and clinical assay development.
    Educational: Innovative learning technologies including gamification and game based learning.

  • Will Dampier, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Exploring patterns of HIV genetic variation, its influences on disease progression and impacts on excision therapy

  • Joshua Earl, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Statistical comparative analysis of whole bacterial genomes, including gene content/variation and homologous gene transfer, specifically in Moraxella catarrhalis and other naso-pharyngeal pathogens; comparative ecological analysis of human microbial communities and their role in pathogenesis; statistical computing using parallel environments and application development.

  • Garth D. Ehrlich, PhD, FAAAS, FAAM

    Professor of Microbiology & Immunology; Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology, Otolaryngology
     Research Interests: Use of large-scale comparative genomic technologies to explore the molecular pathogenesis of chronic infectious diseases and the human genetics of susceptibility and resistance to infection.

  • Jennifer Hope, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Immune responses to cancer, chronic virus infection; T cell differentiation; T cell development

  • Pooja Jain, PhD, MS

    Professor; Co-Director, Master of Science in Immunology Program
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Retrovirus-associated cancer and neuroinflammation, myeloid/dendritic cell-based immunotherapy, extracellular vesicles

  • Stephen Jennings, PhD

    Professor; Co-Director, Master of Science in Immunology Program
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Optimal protection from HSV-1 infection provided by interactions between innate and acquired immune responses.

  • Hangjun Ke, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: pH regulation of the cytosol and other subcellular compartments; bioenergetics of malaria parasites; mitochondrial dynamics, morphology and function

  • Zafar Khan, PhD

    Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Transgenic and humanized mouse modeling of neuroinflammation; target-based high-throughput screening (HTS) and pre-clinical studies on development of novel antiviral molecules with focus on mechanism(s) of action; INDO-US collaborative program under the Center for International Translational Medicine of the Institute for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Disease (IMMID)

  • Sandhya Kortagere, PhD

    Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Biased signaling of dopamine D3 receptor agonists; developing symptomatic and disease-modifying therapeutics for Parkinson’s disease; etiology of mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease; role of dopamine receptors in neurocognitive impairment in HIV and other neuronal infections

  • Fred Krebs, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Plasma medicine (biomedical applications of non-thermal plasma), with an emphasis on developing preventative and immunotherapeutic approaches to combat human viral pathogens.

  • Amy T. Ma, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Bacteriology, microbial interactions, gut microbiome, vitamin cross-feeding and biosynthesis

  • Julio Martin-Garcia, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Macrophage tropism and neurotropism of HIV-1; cellular senescence during HIV-1 infection and HIV-1 neuropathogenesis; innate immune responses to HIV-1 infection in macrophages, microglia and dendritic cells; microRNAs and HIV-1

  • Michael Mather, PhD

    Research Associate Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Physiology of malaria parasites, especially mitochondrial functions and energy metabolism

  • Joshua Chang Mell, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Using genomics to investigate the mechanism, consequences and evolution of genetic recombination, especially in pathogenic bacteria.

  • Elise Mosser, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Innovative biomedical graduate education, with a specific focus on online course design and course development

  • Sonia Navas-Martin, PhD

    Professor of Microbiology & Immunology
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Innate immunity, toll-like receptors, neuroimmunology, neuroinflammation, neurodegenerative diseases, blood brain barrier, microglia, astrocytes, neurons, macrophages, viral encephlalitis, demyelination, molecular pathogenesis of neurotropic RNA viruses, cellular senesce, microRNAs, animal models, therapeutic targets

  • Michael Nonnemacher, PhD

    Professor of Microbiology & Immunology
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: HIV-1 genetic variation in disease progression; role of viral accessory proteins in pathogenesis; gene-editing strategies for HIV cure research; HIV/HBV coinfection in cancer; impact of HIV-1 and drugs of abuse on the CNS

  • Pamela Norton, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Characterization of glycoproteomic biomarkers for hepatocellular carcinoma, induction of novel immune responses by agents that alter N-glycan processing

  • Amy Cernetich Ott, PhD

    Instructor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Development and testing of multi-stage, multi-antigen vaccines targeting Plasmodium parasites.

  • Vanessa Pirrone, PhD

    Associate Professor; Assistant Dean of Admissions
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Impact of HIV infection on colorectal cancer, and the role of the HIV-1 Nef protein; impact of age and HIV/HCV coinfection on HIV-1 replication, pathogenesis and immune activation profiles

  • Akhil Vaidya, PhD

    Professor; Director, Center for Molecular Parasitology
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Understanding basic molecular functioning of malaria parasites with a view to developing new antimalarial drugs.

  • Brian Wigdahl, PhD

    Professor and Chair; Director, Institute for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Disease
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Immunopathogenesis and neuropathogenesis of HIV-1 and HTLV-I infection; transcriptional regulation of retroviral expression; viral sequence diversity and correlations to disease; development of microbicidal agents