The Department of Microbial Pathogenesis consists of eight faculty and approximately 35 graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and support staff. Through collaborations in research and teaching and many shared activities, the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis is closely associated with the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, the Institute for Genome Sciences and the Center for Vaccine Development of the School of Medicine. The Department is also a member of the university-wide Graduate Program In Life Sciences (GPILS) and is the home of the Core Imaging Facility.

Mission

The Department of Microbial Pathogenesis is committed to the study of the genomic, molecular and cellular bases of infectious diseases and the correlated training of dental and dental hygiene students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and residents. Current areas of interest include studies of virulence gene regulation in bacterial pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, Corynebacterium diphteriae and Enterococcus faecalis, research on secreted bacterial virulence factors and phages of Chlamydia, studies of Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium perfringens biofilms and Candida-Staph co-infections, and research on lipopolysaccharide structure and modification in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and others potential agents of biowarfare and emerging diseases.