Microbial Pathogenesis & Infectious Diseases

Immunology of Infectious Diseases

The battle between pathogens and the host immune defences has raged for thousands of years.  The immune system has developed a variety of methodologies to controlling viral and bacterial infection which ranges from direct killing of pathogen to elaborating cytokines, which inhibit replication.  Pathogens have countered by developing a variety of immune circumvention mechanisms that inhibit cytokine function and prevent immune gratitude of infected cells.  Immunology describes how the body copes with microbial, viral or parasitic infections, cancer and all other diseases. It needs expertise and analysis from the level of the molecules and cells of the immune system all the way up to disease dynamics in populations and ecosystems. Infectious and immune-mediated diseases currently under study include HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Chagas, Malaria, Pneumonia, Enteric Diseases, Inflammatory Bowel, and Autoimmune diseases.