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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., 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

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

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

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

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: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

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

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

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

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: Microbiology & Immunology

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

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

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.

 

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