Integrated Program in Biomedical Sciences

Microbial Pathogenesis, Immunology, and Inflammation

Michael A. Whitt, Ph.D.

Research of faculty in the Microbial Pathogenesis, Immunology, and Inflammation (MPII) Track within the Interdisciplinary Program in Biomedical Sciences (IPBS) is focused on

· understanding the molecular and cellular bases for bacterial and viral infectious diseases
· normal and abnormal immune function
· chronic inflammatory and immune-mediated diseases in humans
· animal models of human diseases

Faculty in the MPII Track include faculty from the Departments of Medicine, Molecular Sciences, Pathology, Pediatrics, and Surgery at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and the Veteran’s Administration Hospital and Research Center, Memphis.

Two Centers of Excellence, in Genomics and Bioinformatics and in Connective Tissue Diseases, and the Pathogenesis Research Center are also represented among MPII faculty. Faculty in the Microbial Pathogenesis Center participate in a one-of-a-kind T32 training grant that provides NIH-defined underrepresented minority students with stipend, tuition remission, health insurance, and travel funds to study bacterial pathogenesis. Trainees benefit from additional instruction in grant writing and reviewing as well as from having opportunities to participate in world-class scientific meetings locally and outside of Memphis. Students also receive training in biocontainment and in work with class III pathogens in the Regional Bioconainment Laboratory on the UTHSC campus. The grant provides a much needed way to help produce a larger professional talent pool of underrepresented minorities in academia and industry as our students complete their training and enter the work force.

Current areas of specific research interest include (but are not limited to) the following:

· the development of viral vectors for vaccine delivery and tumor cell targeting
· the role of apoptosis and products of apoptosis in initiating autoimmunity
· virulence factors of dengue virus and host susceptibility to dengue hemorrhagic fever
· pathogenic mechanisms and host immune responses to chlamydial infection
· gene regulation of chlamydial developmental cycles
· mechanisms of persistence and tumorigenesis of Epstein-Barr virus
· the origin and control of pandemic influenza virus
· molecular mechanisms that control the host range and pathogenesis of paramyxovirus
· mechanisms that control innate immune responses to gram-positive bacteria
· mechanisms that control herpesvirus entry into cells, virulence factors that contribute to infections with Group B streptococcus and Haemophilus influenzae
· mechanisms that determine racial differences in response to therapy for chronic hepatitis C virus infection
· molecular and cellular bases for systemic autoimmunity and autoimmune pathogenesis
· development of vaccines against bioterrorism agents
· characterization of genetic defects responsible for inherited immunodeficiencies
· design, development and pre-clinical/clinical testing of vaccines for HIV and parainfluenza virus
molecular pathogenesis of pneumococcal infection

* Faculty and Their Research Interests
* Electives
* Students
* Microbial Pathogenesis Center

• Cancer Biology and Developmental Biology
• Cell Biology and Biochemistry
• Genetics, Functional Genomics, and Proteomics
• Molecular, Cellular, and Systems Physiology
• Microbial Pathogenesis, Immunology, and Inflammation
• Molecular Therapeutics and Cell Signaling
• Neuroscience

Revised 29 September 2006