Overview
Graduate work in the Infectious Disease Concentration Area 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. Students selecting Infectious Disease will focus on one or more of these areas.
A highly individualized curriculum of study is designed to meet the needs and interests of the student while satisfying selected requirements by the faculty. 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 his/her advisor from a large number of college and university offerings.
Students entering the Ph.D. program having completed courses equivalent to the required courses may, with the consent of their thesis committee, petition the concentration area Graduate Committee to waive these requirements.
COURSES REQUIRED FOR THE INFECTIOUS DISEASES CONCENTRATION
CBS 810 Seminar in Infectious Diseases (1 credit; minimum 3 credits total for doctoral students; minimum 2 credits total for master’s 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:
BIOCHEMISTRY
BCH 701 Macromolecular Structure; Fall (3 credits)
BCH 703 Macromolecular Synthesis and Regulation; Fall (3 credits)
MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY
MB 714 Microbial Metabolic Regulation; Fall (3 credits)
MB 718 Introductory Virology; Fall alternate odd years (3 credits)
MB/IMM 751 Immunology; Spring (3 credits)
IMM/TOX 705 Immunotoxicology; Spring (2 credits)
IMM/CBS 755 Immunoparasitology; Spring alternate years (2 credits)
IMM/PO 757 Comparative Immunology; Spring alternate odd years (3 credits)
IMM/CBS/MB 783 Adv. Immunology; Fall alternate years (3 credits)
IMM/CBS 816 Adv. Topics in Immunology; Fall and Spring (1 credits)
COMPARATIVE BIOMDEICAL SCIENCES
CBS 770 Cell Biology; Spring (3 credits)
CBS 771 Cancer Biology; Fall (4 credits)
CBS 774 Epidemiol. of Inf. Dis. of International Importance; Fall alternate years
MOLECULAR AND CELL BIOLOGY
GN 701 Molecular Genetics; Fall (3 credits)
GN 702 Cellular and Developmental Genetics; Spring (3 credits)
GN 750 Developmental Genetics; Spring alternate years (3 credits)
GN/ST 756 Computations Molecular Evolution; Fall alternate years (3 credits)
GN/MB 758 Microbial Genetics & Genomics; Spring (3 credits)
GN/BCH 761 Adv. Molecular Biology of the Cell; Spring alternate years (3 credits)
GN/BCH 768 Nucleic Acids: Structure and Function; Spring alternate years (3 credits)
GN 810-xxx Special Topics in Genetics; Fall and Spring (1-6 credits)
BCH 705 Molecular Biology of the Cell; Spring (3 credits)
STATISTICS
ST 501 Fundamentals of Statistical Inference I; Fall & Summer (3 credits)
ST 701 Statistical Theory I; Fall (3 credits)
TECHNIQUES
BIT 815 Advanced Topics In Biotechnology; Summer (1-6 credits)
Participating Faculty
| Name | Email | Concentration | Research Emphasis |
| Adam Birkenheuer | ajbirken@ncsu.edu | Immunology, Infectious Diseases | General Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease |
| Barbara Sherry | barbara_sherry@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases | Virus-cell interactions |
| Ben Callahan | bcallah@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases, Population Medicine | Microbiome methods in health and disease |
| Casey Theriot | cmtherio@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases | Study the interactions between the gut microbiota, host, and pathogen C. difficile |
| Derek Foster | derek_foster@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases, Pharmacology, Population Medicine | We use pharmacokinetic modeling to understand antimicrobial resistance in enteric bacteria. |
| Ed Breitschwerdt | ebbreits@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases | 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. |
| Elisa Crisci | ecrisci@ncsu.edu | Immunology, Infectious Diseases | Crisci lab studies the interactions between respiratory viruses and innate immunity |
| Frank Scholle | frank_scholle@ncsu.edu | Immunology, Infectious Diseases | Viral Immunology |
| Fred Fuller | ffuller@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases | Equine Infectious Anemia virus pathogenesis- will retire next summer |
| Glen Almond | gwalmond@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases, Population Medicine | Porcine production and infectious diseases. |
| Isabel Gimeno | imgimeno@ncsu.edu | Immunology, Infectious Diseases, Population Medicine | Tumor viral diseases in poultry and development of the chicken immune system |
| Jeffrey Yoder | jayoder@ncsu.edu | Cell Biology, Immunology, Infectious Diseases | We study the evolution of immune receptors and PFAS immunotoxicology. |
| Jody Gookin | jgookin@ncsu.edu | Cell Biology, Infectious Diseases | Host-pathogen Interactions in the Gut |
| Juliana Bonin Ferreira | jboninf@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases, Population Medicine | |
| 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. |
| Kevin Anderson | kevin_anderson@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases, Population Medicine | Infectious diseases of ruminants; emphasis on mastitis and the pathogen Staphylococcus aureus |
| Lauren Schnabel | lvschnab@ncsu.edu | Cell Biology, Immunology, Infectious Diseases | The Schnabel Laboratory focuses on the use of regenerative and biologic therapies for the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries. |
| 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. |
| Megan Jacob | mejacob@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases | Antimicrobial resistance and public health microbiology |
| Michael Levy | mike_levy@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases | Immunoparasitology |
| Michael Sikes | mike_sikes@ncsu.edu | Immunology, Infectious Diseases | Lymphocyte development and differentiation |
| Petra Bizikova | pbiziko@ncsu.edu | Immunology, Infectious Diseases | Autoimmune and allergic skin disease of small animals |
| Ravi Kulkarni | rrkulkar@ncsu.edu | Immunology, Infectious Diseases | Immunology of infectious diseases and Vaccine development |
| Rocio Crespo | rcrespo@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases, Population Medicine | Conducting applied research on poultry health and production |
| Samuel Jones | sljones@ncsu.edu | Cell Biology, Immunology, Infectious Diseases | Regulation of Neutrophil Motility |
| Sara Lyle | sklyle2@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases | We focus on interactions of the host and the microbiome - in health and disease. |
| Sid Thakur | sthakur@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases, Population Medicine | Antimicrobial resistance and One Health |
| Steven Suter | sesuter@ncsu.edu | Cell Biology, Immunology, Infectious Diseases, Pathology | Genetics and Therapy of Cancer |
| 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. |
| Thierry Olivry | tolivry@ncsu.edu | Cell Biology, Immunology, Infectious Diseases | Pathogenesis and Therapy of Pruritis, Atopic Dermatitis and Autoimmune Diseases |
| Tobias Kaeser | tekaeser@ncsu.edu | Immunology, Infectious Diseases | The Kaeser lab studies the adaptive immune response in pigs and uses it as a biomedical animal model for chlamydia infections and food allergy |
| Xinxia Peng | xpeng5@ncsu.edu | Infectious Diseases | systems analysis of host-microbiome-pathogen interactions |