The Microbe-Host Interactions Program is designed to provide state-of-the-art training in modern bacteriology, virology, host cell and immune responses to microbes, molecular genetics and pathogenesis, and biotechnology. Research experience in a specific area provides the basis for a dissertation. Students normally enter via the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences, in which they do rotations in the laboratories of four faculty members prior to choosing a field of study. Dissertation research may be initiated in any of the following areas:
- Bacterial pathogenesis, mechanisms of toxin action and drug resistance (Cassat, Cover, Hadjifrangiskou, Lacy, Merrikh, Peek, Schmitz, Skaar, Spiller, Zhu);
- Bacterial physiology and metabolism (Bratton, Byndloss, Cassat, Hadjifrangiskou, Schmitz, Skaar, Zhu)
- Role of the intestinal microbiota in health and disease (Byndloss, Olivares-Villagomez, Zhu);
- Molecular biology of virus-host interactions (Aiken, Ascano, Crowe, Denison, Karijolich, Ogden);
- Immune responses to bacterial, viral, and fungal infections (Algood, Crowe, Georgiev, Joyce, Kalams, Mallal, Rollins-Smith, Sherwood, Van Kaer, Wilson);
- Microbial genetics or genomics (Aiken, Bratton, Bordenstein, Crowe, Georgiev, Hadjifrangiskou, Merrikh, Ogden, Karijolich, Skaar, Schmitz);
- Protein structure and proteomics (Lacy, Spiller).
Emphasis is on basic research aimed at understanding molecular mechanisms of microbial infections and the host cell and immune defenses. Students whose interests are primarily in ecological or taxonomic aspects of microbiology are not encouraged to apply.