The field of Infectious Diseases is focused on how pathogens invade, multiply, persist, and cause disease within a host.  Graduate work in Infectious Disease includes research at the molecular and cellular level in bacteriology, parasitology, and virology, as well as investigations of the host immune response to these agents. Programs focus on etiology, pathogenesis, diagnostic development, vaccine development, and antimicrobial therapies. Programs also focus on gene regulation and host-pathogen interactions that influence pathogenesis. Research approaches employ a wide variety of molecular, biochemical, pharmacological, and microscopic techniques, utilizing cell culture and whole organisms. 

The field of Immunology is focused on how the host responds and defends itself against potentially pathogenic microbes and mechanisms of immune system dysfunction that are often related to microbial dysbiosis resulting in immune/inflammatory disease.The Immunology concentration area coursework and laboratory research emphasize cellular and molecular biology studies in infectious disease immunology, mucosal immunity and inflammation, immunopathology, immunoparasitology, environmental immunology, and immunology of non-vertebrate species. 

These two fields are intimately intertwined and research in these areas is highly interdisciplinary. A highly individualized curriculum of study is designed to meet the needs and interests of the student while satisfying selected requirements by the graduate advisory committee. These include graduate level cell biology and biochemistry, as well as graduate level courses relating to the specific discipline chosen (bacteriology, parasitology, or virology). Additional courses may be chosen by the student and their advisor from a large number of college and university offerings. The Infection & Immunity concentration is designed to prepare students for professional research and teaching careers applying cellular and molecular biology techniques to animal and human health problems, associated with the immune system, including infectious disease and inflammation. 
Graduates from this concentration area are extremely competitive for positions in universities, pharmaceutical companies, and governmental institutions. North Carolina State University at Raleigh, with close proximity to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and the Research Triangle Park, provides a unique biomedical research environment for seminars, meetings, and interaction with other scientists. Graduate research assistantships are available to qualified students.

Courses Required for the PhD Infection & Immunity Concentration

MB/IMM 751 Immunology (3 credits)

CBS 707 Infection & Immunity (3 credits, offered in Spring only)

CBS 816 Advanced Topics in Immunology (Immunology Seminar) (1 credit, 2 credits minimum for doctoral students)
CBS 811 Infectious Disease Seminar (1 credit, 2 credits minimum for doctoral students)

Elective Courses

Elective courses are selected by the student and mentor, and must be approved by the student’s graduate advisory committee. Possible elective course include, but are not limited to, the following:

CBS 660 Fundamentals of Comparative Molecular Medicine (3 credit hours)

CBS 565 One Health: From Philosophy to Practice (2 credit hours)

CBS 770 Cell Biology (3 credit hours)

CBS 561 Principles of Collaboration & Team Science (2 credit hours)

CBS 563 Leadership in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences (2 credit hours)

CBS 764 Advances in Gastrointestinal Pathophysiology (3 credit hours)

CBS 563 Leadership in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences (2 credit hours)

CBS 806 Animal Models in Comparative and Translational Research

CBS 886 Interdisciplinary Research Team Mentoring (3 credit hours)

CBS 814 Seminar in Grant Writing (1 credit hour)

BCH 553 Biochemistry of Gene Expression (3 credit hours)

BCH 555 Proteins and Molecular Mechanisms (3 credit hours)

BCH 701 Macromolecular Structure (3 credit hours)

BCH 703 Macromolecular Synthesis and Regulation (3 credit hours)

BCH 705 Molecular Biology of the Cell (3 credit hours)

GN 701 Molecular Genetics (3 credit hours)

GN 702 Cellular and Developmental Genetics (3 credit hours)

GN 735 Functional Genomics (3 credit hours)

GN/PB/BCH 761 Advanced Molecular Biology of the Cell (3 credit hours)

GN/ST 756 Computational Molecular Evolution (3 credit hours)

GN/MB 758 Microbial Genetics & Genomics (3 credit hours)

GN/PB/BCH 761 Advanced Molecular Biology Of the Cell (3 credit hours)

GN/BCH 768 Nucleic Acids: Structure and Function (3 credit hours)

GN 810 Special Topics in Genetics (1-6 credit hours)

IMM/PO 757 Comparative Immunology (3 credit hours)

MB 535 Bacterial Pathogenesis (3 credit hours)

MB 714 Microbial Metabolic Regulation (3 credit hours)

MB 718 Introductory Virology (3 credit hours)

ST 501 Fundamentals of Statistical Inference I (3 credit hours)

ST 512 Statistical Methods For Researchers II (3 credit hours)

ST 701 Statistical Theory I (3 credit hours)

TOX 501 Principles of Toxicology (4 credit hours)

BIT 510 Core Technologies in Molecular and Cellular Biology (4 credit hours)

BIT 564 Protein Purification (2 credit hours)

BIT 565 Real-time PCR Techniques (2 credit hours)

BIT 566 Animal Cell Culture Techniques (2 credit hours)

BIT 567 PCR and DNA Fingerprinting (2 credit hours)BIT 815 Advanced Special Topics (1-6 credit hours)

Participating Faculty

Name	Email	Primary Concentration	Other Concentrations	Research Emphasis
Glen Almond	gwalmond@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases	Population Medicine and Global Health	Porcine production and infectious diseases.
Rosemary Bayless	rlbayles@ncsu.edu	Cell Biology	Immunology, Pharmacology	The Bayless Lab team studies neutrophil biology with the goal of identifying innovative therapeutic targets and developing novel treatments for neutrophil-mediated conditions across veterinary and human patients.
Tal Ben-Horin	tbenhor@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases	Pathology	Research in my lab focuses on the ecology and epidemiology of infectious diseases in coastal marine ecosystems.
Adam Birkenheuer	ajbirken@ncsu.edu	Immunology	Infectious Diseases	General Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease
Petra Bizikova	petra_bizikova@ncsu.edu	Immunology	Infectious Diseases	Autoimmune and allergic skin disease of small animals
Juliana Bonin Ferreira	jboninf@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases	Population Medicine
James Bonner	jcbonner@ncsu.edu	Cell Biology	Toxicology	Our goal is to explore and investigate mechanisms of environmental lung diseases (asthma, fibrosis, cancer) caused by emerging toxicants that pose a threat to human health and the environment.
Ed Breitschwerdt	ebbreits@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases	Immunology	Our transnational research is focused on generating improvements in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of vector borne zoonotic infectious diseases, with a particular focus on the genus Bartonella.
Ashley Brown	aecarso2@ncsu.edu	Cell Biology	Immunology	Dr. Brown leads the Advanced Wound Healing lab.
Yevgeny Brudno	ybrudno@ncsu.edu	Immunology	Neurosciences, Pharmacology	Drug delivery to the brain and to cancer.
Ben Callahan	bcallah@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases	Population Medicine	Microbiome methods in health and disease
Elisa Crisci	ecrisci@ncsu.edu	Population Health and Pathobiology	Infectious Disease	Crisci lab studies the interactions between respiratory viruses and innate immunity
Rocio Crespo	rcrespo@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases	Immunology, Population Medicine	Conducting applied research on poultry health and production
Glenn Cruse	gpcruse@ncsu.edu	Immunology	Cell Biology, Pharmacology	Translational research in mast cell-driven diseases such as allergy, asthma and mastocytosis.
Katarsyna Dembek	kdembek@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases		Endocrine dysfunctions in foals with septicemia with the long-term goal of identifying potential novel therapeutics for horses and other species.
Josh Fletcher	jrfletc2@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases		The Fletcher lab uses classic bacterial genetics in combination with multi-omics approaches to analyze in vitro and in vivo models of the bacterial pathogenesis and interactions with the microbiota. We study how nutrient acquisition/utilization and microbial interactions influence bacterial physiology in the context of health and disease.
Derek Foster	dmfoster@ncsu.edu	Population Medicine	Infectious Disease, Immunology	Research in the Foster Lab is focused on working to optimize drug use in food animals in order to maximize efficacy, while minimizing the potential for antimicrobial resistance
Isabel Gimeno	imgimeno@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases	Population Medicine, Immunology	Tumor viral diseases in poultry and development of the chicken immune system
Jody Gookin	jgookin@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases	Cell Biology	Host-pathogen Interactions in the Gut
Erika Gruber	ejgruber@ncsu.edu	Immunology	Pathology	Regulation of macrophage function
Jennifer Halleran	jlhaller@ncsu.edu	Population Medicine	Infectious Disease, Immunology, Pharmacology
Craig Harms	craig_harms@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases		Spontaneous Animal Disease Models
Paul Hess	paul_hess@ncsu.edu	Immunology	Infectious Disease, Cell Biology	We work to develop immunotherapies for canine T-cell malignancies and bladder cancer.
Megan Jacob	mejacob@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases		Antimicrobial resistance and public health microbiology
Samuel Jones	sljones@ncsu.edu	Cell Biology	Immunology	Regulation of Neutrophil Motility
Manuel Kleiner	mkleine@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases		We study interactions between the intestinal microbiota and different dietary components using high-resolution mass spectrometry based approaches.
Matthew Koci	mdkoci@ncsu.edu	Immunology	Infectious Diseases	Matt Koci's research program focuses on host-microbe interactions and understanding how the host recognizes, responds to, eliminates, and ultimately develops resistance to pathogens.
Ravi Kulkarni	rrkulkar@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases	Immunology	The Kulkarni laboratory focuses on studying ‘host-microbe interaction’ with a focus in the areas of immunology, microbiology, Probiotics and vaccines that are crafted into on three major research programs: improving gut health, viral immunology, and Precision Health Technologies.
Cristina Lanzas	clanzas@ncsu.edu	Infectious Disease	Population Medicine
Ronald Li	rhli2@ncsu.edu	Cell Biology	Immunology	Dr. Li's research focus is directed towards understanding the cellular basis and pathobiological roles of immunothrombosis, by which neutrophils and platelets interact in cardiovascular diseases and systemic inflammation. His research also includes investigating precision medicine, congenital platelet disorders and novel antiplatelet therapy in cardiovascular diseases.
Jennifer Luff	jaluff@ncsu.edu	Immunology	Infectious Diseases, Global Health	My research is focused on viral immunity and the interferon response in the skin, with particular interest in papillomavirus infections.
Ricardo Maggi	rgmaggi@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases	Population and Global Health	Molecular microbiology of vector borne diseases and intracellular pathogens in animals and humans.
Christopher Mariani	clmarian@ncsu.edu	Immunology	Neurosciences	Comparative neuroimmunology and neuro-oncology
Xinxia Peng	xpeng5@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases	Immunology	systems analysis of host-microbiome-pathogen interactions
Barbara Qurollo	baquroll@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases		Dr. Qurollo's research efforts are focused on vector-borne disease in wildlife and companion animals and improved methods of detecting disease across wildlife, pets, domesticated animals and humans.
Michael Rahe	mrahe@ncsu.edu	Immunology	Infectious Disease, Pathology	The Rahe lab studies the immunology and pathology of viral infections in large animals.
Vishwanatha Reddy	vishwanatha_reddy@ncsu.edu	Infectious Disease	Immunology
Sarah Rhea	skrhea@ncsu.edu	Infectious Disease	Population Medicine
Yogesh Saini	ysaini@ncsu.edu	Immunology	Cell Biology, Infectious Disease, Pathology, Pharmacology	Dr. Saini's laboratory aims to study the effect of environmental toxicants on two critical organs, i.e., Lung and Liver.
Kaori Sakamoto	ksakamo2@ncsu.edu	Immunology
Lauren Schnabel	lvschnab@ncsu.edu	Cell Biology	Immunology, Infectious Disease	The Schnabel Laboratory focuses on the use of regenerative and biologic therapies for the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries.
Frank Scholle	fscholl@ncsu.edu	Infectious Disease	Immunology	Viral Immunology
Amit Sharma	asharm66@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases	Immunology	The central theme of my research program is to study permissive and restrictive virus-host interactions that govern cross-species viral transmission and exploit such interactions for treatment and prevention research.
Katie Sheats	mkpeed@ncsu.edu	Immunology	Global Health, Infectious Diseases	Dr. Sheats' research focuses on the innate immune system and the role neutrophils play in host defense and host injury.
Michael Sikes	mlsikes@ncsu.edu	Immunology		Lymphocyte development and differentiation
Panchan Sitthicharoenchai	psitthi@ncsu.edu	Infectious Disease
Amol Suryawanshi	assuryaw@ncsu.edu	Immunology	Infectious Disease, Population and Global Health	The overall goal of the Suryawanshi Lab is to understand molecular and cellular networks driving immune evasion during chronic viral infections and tumor progression and develop novel targeted immunotherapies to promote anti-viral and anti-tumor immunity.
Siddhartha "Sid" Thakur	sthakur@ncsu.edu	Global Health	Infectious Disease, Immunology	Understanding phenotypic and genotypic similarity or diversity of AMR bacterial strains reported in animals and humans; Using phylogenetics to study the evolution of drug-resistant bacterial strains at the population level
Casey Theriot	cmtherio@ncsu.edu	Infectious Diseases		Study the interactions between the gut microbiota, host, and pathogen C. difficile
Jeff Yoder	jayoder@ncsu.edu	Immunology	Infectious Disease, Cell Biology	We study the evolution of immune receptors and PFAS immunotoxicology.