Thematic Research Areas:
Host-Pathogen Interactions and Immunology Research

Host-Pathogen Interactions and Immunology research areas include understanding fundamental aspects of immune function such as the regulation of autoimmunity, cancer immunology and immune responses to infectious agents such as bacteria and viruses. There is also considerable interest in understanding how pathogens replicate and subvert host defenses.


Adam J. Adler, Associate Professor of Immunology, B.S., McGill University, Ph.D., Columbia University. Our lab studies mechanisms of T cell tolerization to peripheral self-antigens, as well as the relationship between tolerance and tumor immunity.

Hector Leo Aguila, Assistant Professor of Immunology, Ph.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Hematopoiesis and bone marrow microenvironment; lymphoid cell development; stem cell biology.

Stefan Brocke, Assistant Professor, M.D., Ph.D., Cellular and molecular mechanisms of brain injury in inflammatory and inflammation-associated disorders of the central nervous system.

Robert B. Clark, Associate Professor of Immunology, M.D., Stanford, 1975. Autoimmunity; immune regulation; regulatory T cells.

Robert E. Cone, Professor of Immunology, B.S., Brooklyn College; M.S., Florida State University; Ph.D., University of Michigan. Ocular immunology; regulatory T cells; neuroimmunology.

Stephen J. Crocker, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Ph.D., University of Ottowa. Stem cells; glia; metalloproteinases; cytokines; development; pathology; tissue culture.

Asis K. Das, Professor of Molecular, Microbial and Structural Biology, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D., University of Calcutta. Genetics, genomics and mechanisms of bacterial adaptive response; genetic control of bacteriophage lysogeny and lysis; and non-coding RNAs in prokaryotic development.

Anna Dongari-Bagtzoglou, Assistant Professor of Periodontology, D.D.S., Aristotle University, Greece, M.S., University of California, Los Angeles, Ph.D., University of Texas, San Antonio. Pathogenesis of oral opportunistic infections in the immunocompromised host. Regulation of oral mucosal inflammation in response to bacterial or fungal infection. Innate immune factors which limit oral mucosal infection and invasion.

David I. Dorsky, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases; M.D., Ph.D., Harvard, 1976. Anti-HIV and anti-herpesvirus drug mechanisms, herpesviral DNA polymerases, gene transfer strategies applied to bioengineering and studies of antigen presentation.

Paul Epstein, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Cell Biology. Receptor signal transduction, second messengers, and protein phosphorylation in control of cell growth and regulation; purification and regulation of cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases; role of calmodulin in mediating Ca2+-dependent cell processes.

Irving Goldschneider, Professor of Immunology, B.A., M.D., University of Pennsylvania. T and B cell development; acquired thymic tolerance; cytokines.

Donald L. Kreutzer, Professor of Pathology and Surgery, B.S., Colorado State University; Ph.D., University of Kansas. Immunopathology and molecular mechanisms of inflammation, mediators and regulators of leukocyte chemotaxis, modulation of inflammatory reactions by the vascular endothelium.

Leo Lefrançois, Professor of Immunology, B.S., Colorado State University; Ph.D., Wake Forest University. T-cell activation and migration, T-cell memory; immune response to infection; tolerance; vaccines.

Zihai (Zack) Li, Associate Professor of Immunology and Medical Oncology, M.D., Henan Medical College, Ph.D., Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Member: Executive Committee of the Department of Immunology and the Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center. Tumor immunology, tolerance and innate immunity, roles of heat shock proteins and Toll-like receptors in hematopoiesis and in the functions of various immune cells in the mammalian system.

Bijay Mukherji, Professor of Medicine, M.D., Calcutta University. Tumor immunology and cancer vaccines, tumor-specific antigens.

Flavia A. O'Rourke, Assistant Professor of Cell Biology; Ph.D., Connecticut, 1976. Signal transduction in human platelets with specific interest in the inositol phosphate signaling pathway and its regulation.

James O'Rourke, Professor of Pathology, M.Sc., University of Pennsylvania; M.D., Georgetown University. Vascular biology, tissue plasminogen activator synthesis, transport and release.

Joel S. Pachter, Professor of Cell Biology; Ph.D., NYU, 1983. Use of laser capture microdissection for gene profiling of the neurovascular unit in health and disease.

Lynn Puddington, Associate Professor of Immunology, B.S., Iowa State University, Ph.D., Wake Forest University. Allergic asthma; neonatal immunity and tolerance; developmental immunology.

Justin D. Radolf, Professor of Medicine and Center for Microbial Pathogenesis, M.D., University of California-San Francisco. Molecular pathogenesis and immunobiology of spirochetal infections.

T.V. Rajan, Professor and Interim Chairman of Pathology, Ph.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine; M.D., All India Institute of Medical Sciences. Molecular immunoparasitology.

Pramod K. Srivastava, Professor of Medicine, Ph.D., Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India. Heat shock proteins as peptide chaperones, roles in antigen presentation and applications in immunotherapy of cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders.

Jason M. Tanzer, Professor and Division Head of Oral Medicine, Department of Oral Diagnosis, School of Dental Medicine; also, Professor of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine. D.M.D., Tufts University School of Dental Medicine; Ph.D., Georgetown University; D.H.C. Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. 1. The physiological/biochemical/genetic bases of virulence by the mutans streptococci (Streptococcus mutans) and its colonization of the teeth and the physiological/biochemical/genetic bases of non-virulence of Streptococcus gordonii despite its avid colonization of the teeth. 2. The colonization determinants of certain HIV-inhibiting Lactobacillus species in the oral-gastro-intestinal tract.

Hung Ton-That, Assistant Professor of Molecular, Microbial and Structural Biology, B.S., Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles. Pilus assembly and sortase-mediated anchoring of surface proteins in Gram-positive bacteria.

Roger S. Thrall, Professor of Immunology, B.A., Eastern Connecticut State College; Ph.D., Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin. Immune cells, pulmonary inflammation.

Anthony T. Vella, Assistant Professor of Immunology, Ph.D., Cornell University. T-cell immunity; costimulation; adjuvants and cytokines.

Sandra K. Weller, Professor of Molecular, Microbial and Structural Biology, B.S., Stanford University, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin. Molecular genetics and biochemistry of herpes simplex virus DNA replication.

Carol A. Wu, Assistant Professor of Immunology, Ph.D., Vanderbilt University. Viral respiratory infections and asthma.