Microbiology & Immunology (MI) Program Training Faculty

Seena Ajit, PhD
Professor
Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms of neuropathic and inflammatory pain, epigenetic regulation, microRNA expression and regulation, biomarkers
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
Associate Professor
Department: Microbiology & Immunology
Research Interests: Chemical biology and microbiology of secondary metabolism in various organisms
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.
Alison J. Carey, MD*
Associate Professor
Department: Microbiology & Immunology, Pediatrics
Research Interests: Mechanisms of age-specific host-pathogen responses, respiratory viral infections, infant immune system development, type I interferon response
Mary Ann Comunale, EdD, MS
Associate Professor
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
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.
Elias El Haddad, PhD
Professor of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology; MD/PhD Program Director
Department: Medicine: Division of Infectious Diseases & HIV Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology
Research Interests: Human immunology, systems biology, infectious disease pathogenesis and vaccinology
Peter Gaskill, PhD
Associate Professor
Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
Research Interests: HIV, drug abuse, neuroimmunity, neurotransmission, macrophage immunology, dopamine, serotonin, catecholamines
Donald C. Hall Jr. (DJ), PhD
Assistant Professor
Department: Microbiology & Immunology
Research Interests: Computational drug design and structural bioinformatics; preclinical drug development; bacterial multi-drug tolerance and persister cells; stringent response mechanisms; non-thermal plasma (NTP) as an antimicrobial strategy; molecular diagnostics; novel antimicrobial materials
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 (HIV/HTLV)-associated cancer and neuroinflammation, myeloid/dendritic cell-based immunotherapy, extracellular vesicles
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
Zachary Klase, PhD
Associate Professor
Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
Research Interests: Molecular neuropathogenesis of HIV-1, epigenetic control of transcription and microRNA involvement in viral diseases
Sandhya Kortagere, PhD
Professor; Vice Dean of Research and Innovation
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.
Michele Kutzler, PhD
Associate Dean for Faculty; Professor of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology
Department: Medicine: Division of Infectious Diseases & HIV Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology
Research Interests: Translational research in the area of vaccinology, immunology and infectious disease
Eugenia Lo, PhD
Associate Professor
Department: Microbiology & Immunology
Research Interests: Molecular epidemiology, parasite genomics and evolution, host-parasite interactions, global health
Patrick Loll, PhD
Professor
Department: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Research Interests: X-ray crystallography and protein biophysics; integral membrane protein structure; antibiotic resistance; mechanism of drug action; protein homeostasis
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.
Olimpia Meucci, MD, PhD
Professor & Chair
Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
Research Interests: HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders and drug abuse, chemokine-based therapeutics, neuroprotective pathways in neuroinflammation
Vandana Miller, MD*
Professor
Department: Microbiology & Immunology
Joanne Morrisey
Research Instructor
Department: Microbiology & Immunology
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
Director, Division of Biomedical Sciences; 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
Amy Cernetich Ott, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department: Microbiology & Immunology
Research Interests: Development and testing of multi-stage, multi-antigen vaccines targeting Plasmodium parasites.
Gabriele Romano, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department: Pharmacology & Physiology
Research Interests: Cancer drug resistance; tumor suppressor genes; immune evasion; chemokine signaling; computational biology; functional genomics; HIV and cancer; nanoparticle-mediated drug delivery
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

Program Training Faculty From Other Drexel Colleges/Schools

Peter Deak, PhD

College/School: Engineering
Research Interests: Designing nano-formulations to modulate innate immune cells as potential therapeutics for autoimmune diseases and transplantation rejection; diagnostics for autoinflammatory diseases; targeted adjuvants to generate antigen specific immunity of chronic viral infections like HIV and hepatitis.

Xiao Huang, PhD

College/School: Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems
Research Interests: Development of innovative engineering platforms and analytical methods to advance understanding and control of immunotherapies.

Christopher Rodell, PhD

College/School: Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems
Research Interests: Macrophage-biomaterial interactions, drug delivery systems and chronic wound healing.

Kara Spiller, PhD

College/School: Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems
Research Interests: Protein interactions in health and disease, structure-based antagonism of HIV-1 Env, recombinant protein/peptidomimetic/small molecule inhibitor design and mechanism of action.

Program Resource Faculty

Irwin Chaiken, PhD

Department: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Research Interests: Protein interactions in health and disease, structure-based antagonism of HIV-1 Env, recombinant protein/peptidomimetic/small molecule inhibitor design and mechanism of action.

Bradford Jameson, PhD

Department: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Research Interests: Medical and graduate student education; previous research focused on structure-based drug design studies for development of immune-regulatory compounds

Stephen Jennings, PhD

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

Julio Martin-Garcia, PhD

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.

Elise Mosser, PhD

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

Pamela Norton, PhD

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

Vanessa Pirrone, PhD

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.

Affiliate Training Faculty

Siddharth Balachandran, PhD
Fox Chase Cancer Center

Tim Block, PhD
Baruch S. Blumberg Institute

Ju-Tao Guo, PhD
Baruch S. Blumberg Institute

Alexander Muller, PhD
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research

Glen Rall, PhD
Fox Chase Cancer Center

Ying-Hsiu Su, PhD
Baruch S. Blumberg Institute

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

How to apply to the Microbiology & Immunology program

Alison Carey and Ogan Kumova (Carey Lab) from the Microbiology and Immunology Program at Drexel University College of Medicine.