||| EMORY ||| Microbiology and Molecular Genetics |||

Ph.D. training opportunities in Bacteriology & Virology

The MMG program offers outstanding training and educational opportunities in the areas of bacteriology and virology. An NIH-supported training grant (Molecular Mechanisms of Microbial Pathogenesis; S. Speck, Director) was awarded in 2006 and is used to support selected MMG students and post-doctoral fellows. Through participation in required courses, conducting laboratory rotations and attending seminars, first year students are exposed to basic concepts in these major disciplines of microbiology. These experiences allow the student sufficient opportunity to learn the varied research opportunities available and to decide on a faculty mentor.

A description of the MMG faculty and their research interests can be found here >>>

Ph.D. training opportunities in Bacteriology:

MMG faculty with interests in bacteriology conduct basic research that addresses important, contemporary problems in the areas of microbial physiology (including sporulation, biofilm formation, mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and production and cellular communication systems), microbial genetics (mechanisms of control of gene expression, transposition, and recombination), bacterial virulence factors (including those produced by the Group A streptococci, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Neisseria meningitidis, enteropathogenic bacteria, Proteus spp, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and how bacteria evade host defenses.

Figure 1. This figure highlights the molecular pathogenesis of Agrobacterium tumefaciens molecular biology as it causes disease in susceptible plants.(Courtesy of MMG faulty member Dr. David Lynn)

Ph.D. training opportunities in Virology:

MMG faculty with interests in virology conduct basic research that address important, contemporary problems in the areas of antiviral development, mechanisms of antiviral resistance, viral replication, roles of viruses in oncology, HIV/AIDS, influenza, herpesviruses, mechanisms of viral pathogenesis, escape from immune systems and vaccine development. Noteworthy training opportunities in virology exist through research projects directed by MMG faculty members in the Emory/UGA Influenza Pathogenesis and Immunology Research Center (MMG faculty member R.W. Compans, Director) and the Emory Vaccine Center (MMG faculty member R. Ahmed, Director).

Figure 2. Three-dimensional structure of influenza hemagglutinin (HA), the viral surface protein responsible for binding to host cells. A close-up of the binding domain (shaded) is shown on the right to indicate how HA attaches to cellular receptors that contain sialic acid (green). (Courtesy of MMG faulty member Dr. David Steinhauer)

| GRADUATE DIVISION OF BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES |