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

  • Elizabeth Blankenhorn, PhD

    Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Genetic foundations for inherited susceptibility to autoimmune diseases, including diabetes, scleroderma and multiple sclerosis; impact of genetics on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

  • James M. Burns Jr., PhD

    Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Development of protective immunity against blood-stage malaria induced by immunization with defined subunit vaccines.

  • Mary Ann Comunale, EdD, MS

    Assistant 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

    Assistant 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

    Research Instructor
    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

    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.

  • Richard Huneke, DVM

    Professor; Executive Director, ULAR
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology

  • Pooja Jain, PhD

    Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Dendritic cell-based immunotherapy against ATLL induced by the human retroviral infection HTLV-1 as well as against neuroinflammatory diseases induced by infection (HAM/TSP) or inflammation (multiple sclerosis, MS)

  • Stephen Jennings, PhD

    Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Optimal protection from HSV-1 infection provided by interactions between innate and acquired immune responses.

  • Santosh Katiyar, PhD

    Research Associate Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Molecular genetics and antimicrobial therapy of opportunistic fungal infections, with major emphasis on molecular mechanisms of antifungal drug resistance

  • Hangjun Ke, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Development of novel antimalarial drugs that can overcome the drug-resistance problems of antimalarial chemotherapy

  • 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

    Associate 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; Co-director, Interdisciplinary and Career-Oriented Programs
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: HIV-1 immunopathogenesis and neuropathogenesis, plasma medicine (biomedical applications of non-thermal plasma)

  • Kirsten Larson, PhD

    Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Development of educational activities, flipped classroom experiences and peer evaluation

  • Amy T. Ma, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Bacteriology, protozoan grazers, microbial interactions, vitamin biosynthesis and utilization

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

  • Joshua Chang Mell, PhD

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

  • Joanne Morrisey

    Research Instructor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology

  • 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

    Associate Professor
    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

    Associate Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: HIV-1 genetic variation in disease progression; role of viral accessory proteins in pathogenesis; impact of HIV-1 and drugs of abuse on the blood-brain barrier

  • 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

  • Shendra Passic, MS

    Research Instructor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Variation in HIV-1 genetic and immune markers during disease progression; HIV-1 drug development and microbicides

  • Vanessa Pirrone, PhD

    Assistant Professor
    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

  • Richard Rest, PhD

    Professor Emeritus
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Molecular and cellular mechanisms of the pathogenesis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Neisseria meningitidis and Bacillus anthracis

  • Donna Russo, PhD

    Professor; Senior Associate Dean for Curriculum; William Maul Measey Chair in Medical Education
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Senior associate dean of the medical school curriculum; department thread director for microbiology

  • Laura Steel, PhD

    Associate Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Disruptions to metabolic homeostasis in hepatitis B virus–infected hepatocytes; development of RNA silencing–based therapies for HBV

  • Sandra Urdaneta-Hartmann, MD, PhD, MBA

    Associate Professor
    Department: Microbiology & Immunology
     Research Interests: Game-based learning and other emerging learning technologies in higher education; industry trends and market analysis within biomedical higher education

  • 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, Microbiology and Immunology; 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

Allegheny General Hospital
Institute for Cellular Therapeutics
 

Rita Bottino, PhD

Associate Professor

Farrel Joel Buchinsky, MD

Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology, and Microbiology & Immunology; Director, Respiratory Papillomatosis Program, Center for Genomic Sciences, Allegheny-Singer Research Institute
Research Interests: Human papillomavirus (HPV), condylomata, benign neoplasm of the larynx, recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP)

Yong Fan, PhD

Assistant Professor

Nick Giannoukakis, PhD

Associate Professor

Massimo Trucco, PhD

Professor

 
Fox Chase Cancer Center
 

Glenn Rall, PhD

Research Interests: Pathogenesis of neurotropic viral infections (secondary appointment)

 
Joint/Secondary Faculty
 

Michael Bouchard, PhD

Michael Bouchard, PhD

Director, Division of Biomedical Science Programs; Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Research Interests: Hepatitis B virology and hepatic cancer; HBx protein and hepatitis viral replication; calcium signaling and its role in cellular transformation

Alison Carey, MD

Alison Carey, MD

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Elias El Haddad

Elias Haddad, PhD

Professor of Medicine

Michele Kutzler, PhD

Michele Kutzler, PhD

Assistant Dean for Faculty Development; Associate Professor of Medicine
Research Interests: Translational research in the area of vaccinology, immunology and infectious disease

Olimpia Meucci, PhD

Olimpia Meucci, MD, PhD

Professor of Pharmacology & Physiology
Research Interests: Identification of targets for novel therapeutic approaches against neurodegenerative/neuroinflammatory disorders; development of neuroprotective drugs

Edward Schulman, MD

Edward S. Schulman, MD

Professor of Medicine
Research Interests: Human lung hypersensitivity reactions, mast cell biology, immunopharmacology of the mast cell, airway pathophysiology

Claudio Torres, PhD

Claudio Torres, PhD

Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Research Interests: Mechanisms of aging that predispose to neurocognitive disease; cellular senescence in human brain during aging and neuropathology; role of senescent cells in inflammatory response in Alzheimer's disease and HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders; use of markers of senescence for early detection of Alzheimer's disease

 
Baruch S. Blumberg Institute
 

Tim Block, PhD

Tim Block, PhD

Adjunct Professor
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of viral persistence and development of therapeutic strategies for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV).

Jinhong Chang, PhD

Jinhong Chang, PhD

Adjunct Associate Professor
Research Interests: The study of microRNA on virus replication and development of small molecule antivirals and innate immune modulators

Ju-Tao Guo, PhD

Ju-Tao Guo, PhD

Adjunct Associate Professor
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of HBV replication and regulation, innate immunity against virus infection, and discovery of antiviral and host innate immune modulatory agents

Ying-Hsiu Su, PhD

Ying-Hsiu Su, PhD

Adjunct Associate Professor
Research Interests: Understanding interactions between herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and neurons during viral latency and reactivation; using nucleic acids in urine as diagnostic markers of cancer

* Physician's practice is independent of Drexel Medicine and Drexel University.

 
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