FACULTY

The faculty included in this list are the members of the Graduate Program in Microbiology. Any of the individuals listed may serve as laboratory rotation mentors and thesis advisors for Microbiology Graduate Program students.

David J. Barton, PhD
Picornavirus RNA translation and replication; hepatitis C virus and innate antiviral immunity
Barton Faculty Profile

J. David Beckham, MD
Pathogenesis of flavivirus infections including Zika virus and West Nile virus, molecular virology, and the interactions of conserved host proteins with viral RNA
Beckham Faculty Profile

Leslie Berg, PhD
Specializes in understanding how T cells develop and help fight infection
Berg Faculty Profile

John C. Cambier, PhD
BCR Antigen Receptor Structure and signaling MHC Class II signaling Inhibitory "Checkpoint" Receptor Signaling Molecular basis of B cell anergy Description of STING/MPYS, a transducer of innate immune signals
Cambier Faculty Profile

Sarah Clark, PhD
Bacterial-driven immune modulation in the respiratory tract
Clark Faculty Profile

Sean Colgan, PhD
Studies basic mechanisms of mucosal diseases processes. Specifically, a focus on shifts in tissue metabolism as a result of acute inflammation. These studies have unveiled important contributions of the host microbiota as an essential component to the resolution of inflammation.
Colgan Faculty Profile

Eduardo Davila, PhD
Long-term goals are to develop novel approaches for treating immunorefractory cancers and to develop predictive models and diagnostics to identify compounds that sensitize tumors to T cell-based therapies.
Davila Faculty Profile

Kelly Doran, PhD
Studying host - pathogen interactions in the central nervous system (CNS) and the female reproductive during infection and colonization
Doran Faculty Profile

Breck Duerkop, PhD
Phage-bacteria interactions and mobile DNA related to antibiotic resistant bacteria and the microbiota
Duerkop Faculty Profile

Sonia Flores, PhD
Mechanisms of HIV-1 Tat and Nef-dependent vascular endothelial cell phenotypic changes; T. whipplei lung pathogenesis
Flores Faculty Profile

Daniel N. Frank, PhD
The study of the human microbiome in health and a variety of diseases
Frank Faculty Profile

Jenna Guthmiller, PhD
Factors that promote or limit the induction of broadly protective humoral immunity against influenza viruses and how previous virus exposures shape antibody and viral evolution.
Guthmiller Faculty Profile

J. Kirk Harris, PhD
Respiratory microbiota and model system microbiota
Harris Faculty Profile

Jay Hesselberth, PhD
Genomics of DNA and RNA repair
Hesseberth Faculty Profile

Katherine Hisert, PhD
Host pathogen interactions between macrophages and bacteria in the lungs during chronic airways diseases, such as cystic fibrosis
Hisert Faculty Profile |  Hisert Faculty NJH Page

Jennifer R. Honda, PhD
Environmental, host, and microbial mechanisms driving the global emergence of nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease
Honda Faculty Profile | Honda Lab Website

Alexander Horswill, PhD
Bacterial pathogenesis including quorum-sensing signal production, biofilm development mechanisms, virulence factor function in host-pathogen
Horswill Faculty Profile

Edward Janoff, MD
Mucosal immunity; HIV transmission and vaccine; pneumococcal infections and vaccine; B cell regulation
Janoff Faculty Profile

Marijka Keestra-Gounder, PhD
The major focus of my research program is to elucidate pathways of innate immunity that can distinguish harmless microbes from pathogens, thereby enabling the host to mount responses that are commensurate with the threat.
Keestra-Gounder Faculty Profile

Jeffrey Kieft, PhD
Discovery, structure, and function of RNA, RNA-protein, and RNA-ribosome complexes important for infection by viruses
Kieft Faculty Profile

Kristine A. Kuhn, MD, PhD
Microbiome and mucosal immunity in the development of autoimmune diseases
Kuhn Faculty Profile

Mamuka Kvaratskhelia, PhD
Our multidisciplinary research focuses on molecular mechanisms of virus-host interactions and new generation, long-acting antiretroviral therapies. We employ complementary biochemistry, virology, molecular biology, pharmacology and structural biology approaches. 
Kvaratskhelia Faculty Profile

Laurel Lenz, PhD
Molecular mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis, host-bacterial interactions, host-directed therapeutics, innate immunity, interferons Listeria monocytogenes
Lenz Faculty Profile

Catherine Lozupone, PhD
Microbiology of the human gut and impacts on health. The development of bioinformatics techniques for analysis of marker gene and genomic sequence data
Lozupone Lab Website

Thomas E. "Tem" Morrison, PhD
Immunological mechanisms that influence the clearance or persistence of arboviruses and protozoan parasites; molecular mechanisms by which pathogens counteract host innate and adaptive immune responses.
Morrison Faculty Profile

Maria Nagel, MD
Clinical and basic research aspects of stroke caused by varicella zoster virus (VZV).
Nagel Faculty Profile

Kyla Ost, PhD
Interactions between commensal fungi and adaptive immune responses in the gut microbiome that impact fungal commensalism, fungal virulence, and inflammatory bowel disease
Ost Faculty Profile

Brent E. Palmer, PhD
Delineating the effects of HIV infection on T cell function
Palmer Faculty Profile

Cristina Penaranda, PhD
Understanding bacterial persistent infections caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We use in vitro and in vivo models to uncover host and pathogen factors involved in disease pathogenesis.
Penaranda Faculty Profile

Vanessa Phelan, PhD
Development and application of analytical chemistry techniques to study the chemical ecology of microbial communities
Phelan Faculty Profile

Eric M. Poeschla, MD
Molecular virology and pathogenesis of RNA viruses including HIV-1, positive strand RNA viruses, innate immunity to viruses, including viral nucleic acid sensing. Viral vectors, site-specific gene targeting.
Poeschla Faculty Profile

Janani Ravi, PhD
Developing computational approaches to study the molecular basis of pathogenesis and intervention of infectious diseases, using protein sequence-structure-function relationships, molecular evolution and phylogeny, comparative genomics/transcriptomics, and drug repurposing.
Ravi Lab Website

Lee Reinhardt, PhD
The role and regulation of CD4+ T cell subsets and their cytokines in settings of type-2 immunity, malignancy, and autoinflammatory disease
Reinhardt Faculty Profile 

Rosemary Rochford, PhD
Co-infections with and immune responses to human gammaherpesviruses and P. falciparum malaria
Rochford Faculty Profile

Brian Russo, PhD
The Russo lab is interested in understanding how bacterial pathogens interact with their hosts. As a model, we investigate the pathogenesis of Shigella flexneri, which infects cells of the colon and causes diarrhea in humans
Russo Faculty Profile

Mario Santiago, PhD
Innate host restriction and adaptive immunity against pathogenic retroviruses (Friend retrovirus, SIV and HIV)
Santiago Faculty Profile

Michael J. Schurr, PhD
Transcriptional regulation and molecular biology of bacterial virulence factors
Schurr Faculty Profile

Kenneth L. Tyler, MD
Pathogenesis of viral infections of the Central Nervous System (West Nile, Japanese encephalitis, Zika, Enteroviruses, Reoviruses)
Tyler Faculty Profile

Linda van Dyk, PhD
Genetic and molecular approaches to infection and pathogenesis by lymphotropic herpesviruses
Van Dyk Faculty Profile

Andreas Vazquez-Torres, DVM, PhD
Molecular and redox determinants in the pathogenesis of intracellular bacteria
Vazquez-Torres Faculty Profile

Martin I. Voskuil, PhD
Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Burkholderia pseudomallei mechanisms of latency and drug tolerance
Voskuil Faculty Profile

Hongjin Zheng, PhD
It is vitally important to understand how membrane proteins function, which is the overarching goal of our research.
Zheng Faculty Profile