Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis

Faculty in Virology and Microbial Pathogenesis are intrigued by how microbes manipulate their multi-cellular hosts to cause disease. The resultant research programs provide an unprecedented opportunity to influence global health. World-wide, infectious diseases are the leading cause of death, with simple diarrheal illness, malaria, and TB leading the pack. These and other infectious diseases, including AIDS, are a major impediment to economic advancement in the third world. The identification of new pathogens, the re-emergence of old pathogens, and the increasing incidence of antibiotic resistance reflect the globalization of humanity and microbes. New as well as old pathogens can rapidly move great distances and establish footholds in new niches. Strategies for the prevention, treatment, and control of infectious diseases require fundamental bench research that takes advantages of rapid advances in genomics, proteomics, cell biology, and immunology. Our faculty are dedicated to the investigation of microbial biology and host-pathogen interactions.

 

UCSF has developed world-class research programs in Infectious Disease. Virology and Microbial Pathogenesis forms one of 8 thematic areas of graduate study in the BMS program. Faculty members affiliated with this thematic area of BMS include virologists, some of whom are affiliated with the Gladstone Institute of Virology & Immunology, and researchers involved in the study of bacterial, fungal, and protozoal pathogens, who are affiliated with the Microbial Pathogenesis and Host Defense Program (MPHD). The MPHD program takes graduate students largely through BMS or the PIBS program. The Virology and Microbial Pathogenesis subdivision of BMS is truly a multi-campus and multi-disciplinary program, with investigators at Parnassus, MB, SFGH, the VA hospital, and the Gladstone Institutes of Virology at MB. The core of the program includes (i) a weekly MPHD seminar series, with invited outside researchers who are national and international leaders in the field, along with research in progress talks and journal clubs (ii) the weekly Gladstone Institutes of Virology seminar series (iii) a yearly bay area-wide symposium (Bay Area Microbial Pathogenesis Symposium), and (iv) advanced level graduate student courses in The Molecular Mechanisms of Microbial Pathogenesis (Micro and Immunology 202/Cell Bio 202) and Virology. Each of these two courses is usually offered on an alternating basis every other year in the spring quarter. In addition, selective mini-courses that study unique aspects of virology or microbial pathogenesis in detail will be offered in the spring quarter.


External Links:

Participating Faculty

Richard Locksley, MD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis
Research Summary: 
The Locksley lab is studying the foundations of allergic immunity and attempting to define the underlying processes mediated by this type of host response

Susan Lynch, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Research Summary: 
Human Microbiome, Chronic Inflammatory Disease
Mentorship Development: 

5/2019 - ACRA: Setting training expectations for trainees on the academic career track
3/2020 - Promoting Student Mental Health
5/2021 - Sharpening your Mentoring Skills (SyMS)

Hiten Madhani, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Research Summary: 
Cryptococcus neoformans: from model pathogen to model organism
Mentorship Development: 

8/30/2021 - DEI Champions Training

Jj Miranda, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Spatial organization of viral genomes in the three-dimensional space of the nucleus. Chromatin regulation of viral transcription during cancer.

Shaeri Mukherjee, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Research Summary: 
Bacterial manipulation of host membrane transport pathways
Mentorship Development: 

4/12/19  Acknowleding and Negotiating the Mentee-Mentor Tensions Inherent in the Research Lab (Parnassus)

Suzanne Noble, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Research Summary: 
The Biology of Candida albicans, a Unique Fungal Commensal-Pathogen of Humans

Melanie Ott, MD, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Research Summary: 
Molecular Pathogenesis of HIV and Hepatitis C Virus Infections

Matija Peterlin, MD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis
Research Summary: 
Transcriptional regulation of HIV, immune response genes and AIRE. HIV latency and reactivation. CTD kinases that regulate transcription elongation and co-transcriptional processing as well as growth, proliferation and differentiation of cells.

Angela Phillips, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Research Summary: 
We are broadly interested in how the molecular properties of viral proteins and antibodies constrain their evolution and co-evolution.

Katie Pollard, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Developmental & Stem Cell Biology
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis
Research Summary: 
Statistical and Computational Methods for the Analysis of Massive Genomic Datasets
Mentorship Development: 

4/26/19    Sharpening your Mentoring Skills (SyMS) with Sharon Milgram (Mission Bay)    
4/30/20    Mental Health in a Pandemic: Q&A for Faculty    
6/10/20    Tools and Tips for Virtual Learning    
6/1/20    Preventing Workplace Harrassment (online course)
6/29/20    DEI 101
7/7/20    Precise Language
8/7/20    History of Racism
8/18/20    Debunking Common Myths and Misconceptions about Sexual Harrassment
9/24/20     Black, Brown, and Bruised

Nadia Roan, PhD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Research Summary: 
Our lab applies single-cell analysis approaches on in vitro and clinical specimens to study the interplay between immune cells & viral pathogens including HIV & SARS-CoV-2, & to study the properties of immune cells in mucosal tissues in health & disease

Philip Rosenthal, MD

Primary Thematic Area: 
Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Research Summary: 
We study malaria, including: a) translational studies of drug efficacy and resistance; b) drug discovery and mechanisms of action of novel compounds; and c) basic biology of malaria parasites.

Pages