Molecular Microbiology Graduate Program

Chair: Michael Bennett, M.D.

Degree Offered: Doctor of Philosophy

Objectives: The aim of the Molecular Microbiology Graduate Program is to offer a superior level of training and research opportunities so that graduates of the program are capable of a high degree of competence and professionalism in their postgraduate years.

The Molecular Microbiology Program offers students the opportunity to study and conduct research with internationally recognized faculty mentors from various subdisciplines of microbiology and infectious diseases. The major emphasis areas are microbioal pathogenesis: analysis of virulence factors, bacterial toxins, lipopolysaccharides, and outer-membrane proteins, interations of pathogens and their products with eukaryotic host cells (cellular microbiology), antigenic variation, contemporary vaccine strategies, bacterial gene regulation (osmoregulation, quorum sensing), bacterial export and secretion, and genetic regulation of bacterial virulence expression; virology: human immunodeficiency virus, cytomegalovirus, hepatitis C virus, resistance to viral infections, viral replication and persistence, viral vaccines, eukaryotic gene regulation, signal transduction pathways, and cellular and molecular mechanisms of human oncogenesis; cellular and molecular immunology: functions of natural killer cells, antigen processing and presentation, functions of T-cell subsets, mechanisms of immune cell activation by microbial modulins, immunotoxins, immunoprivileged sites, mechanisms of inflammation, dendritic cells, tumor immunology, and generation of antibody diversity. The Program encourages an integrated approach to the study of the interactions between microbial pathogens and the human host. The overall objective is to provide a rich environment of multidisciplinary training in research strategies and technology that will prepare the student for a career as an independent investigator in both the basic and applied biomedical sciences.

Special Requirements for Admission: Students wishing to join the Molecular Microbiology graduate program must be enrolled in the Division of Cell and Molecular Biology and be in good standing academically. Usually students seek enrollment in the program toward the end of the first year of study following completion of the set of research rotations and selection of a mentor. It is desirable that the applicant have some undergraduate training in chemistry, biology, mathematics and physics, as well as some undergraduate courses in microbiology.