Microbe-Host Interactions

Through new discoveries and state-of-the-science training of future scientists, the Microbe-Host Interactions graduate program intends to be a world-class center of excellence in biomedical research. The program’s mission evolved from the realization that while we cannot imagine our global village without germs, we can imagine a world without preventable and treatable microbial diseases. The program’s focus is to understand the interactions between microbes—specifically, bacteria and viruses—and their host organisms that lead to disease or promote health.

Researchers in the Microbe-Host Interactions program, supported by the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, have developed innovative in vivo and in vitro systems to study basic mechanisms of bacterial and viral pathogenesis. A key direction in the Department is to use the information garnered from mammalian and microbial genomes projects to identify new genes that control the infection process and affect clinical outcomes.