PhD in Medical Sciences Concentrations
Allergy, Immunology and Infectious Disease
Research and education in the Allergy,
Immunology and Infectious Diseases (AIID) concentration in the Medical Sciences PhD program is focused on interdisciplinary approaches to
the study of how microbes interact with the host to cause disease and how the
immune system responds to allergens, infection and neoplasms. Students in the
program are currently pursuing research projects in areas including emerging
infectious diseases, bacterial pathogenesis, cancer immunotherapy, microbial
drug resistance, malaria, Lyme disease, Clostridium difficile
infections, regulation of immunity and inflammation, oncogenic viruses and
respiratory viruses in acute and chronic diseases. The mission of our program
is to promote and foster outstanding research by facilitating increasing
collaboration between researchers within the Morsani College of Medicine and
beyond, thus improving the health and life of patients.
Courses
The curriculum for the PhD in Medical Sciences can be found in the Graduate Catalog. A sample of courses offered within the Allergy, Immunology, and Infectious Diseases concentration is listed below.
- Foundations in Medical Microbiology and Immunology
- Molecular and Cellular Immunology
- Structural Biology
- Methods in Molecular Medicine
- Advances in Virology
- Vaccines and Applied Immunology
- Microbial Pathogenesis and Host-Parasite Interactions
- Supervised Teaching
- Medical Parasitology and Mycology
Faculty & Research
Current research interests include:
- Immune Regulation
- HIV
- Viral Infections
- Environmental Pollution and Lung Disease
- Arthritis & Inflammation
- Emerging
Infectious Diseases
- Lyme disease
- Clostridium difficile infections
- Biofilm formation by Bartonella henselae
- Neuroimmunology
Learn more about our faculty, students, and their research interests below.
Affiliated Institutes & Facilities
USF Health Byrd Alzheimer's Institute
Florida Infectious Disease Center
Concentration Spotlights
Awards
- Jyotsna Chawla – American Society of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene Young Investigator Award in 2020
- Helena Hernandez Cuervo - 2020 Research Day Award for Best Doctoral Student Research in Basic Sciences
- Caroline Simmons – USF Center for Global Health and Infectious Diseases Research Conference Support Award. Poster titled “Modeling for Disease Outbreaks: Practical Approaches to Understanding and Using Models”
Recent Publications
- Chawla J, Oberstaller J, Adams JH. Targeting
Gametocytes of the Malaria Parasite Plasmodium falciparum in a
Functional Genomics Era: Next Steps. Pathogens. 2021 Mar 16;10(3):346. doi:
10.3390/pathogens10030346. PMID: 33809464; PMCID: PMC7999360.
- Gannon AD, Darch SE. Tools for the Real-Time
Assessment of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection Model. J Vis Exp. 2021 Apr
6;(170). doi: 10.3791/62420. PMID: 33900293.
- Sidramagowda Patil S, Hernández-Cuervo H,
Fukumoto J, Krishnamurthy S, Lin M, Alleyn M, Breitzig M, Narala VR,
Soundararajan R, Lockey RF, Kolliputi N, Galam L. Alda-1 Attenuates
Hyperoxia-Induced Acute Lung Injury in Mice. Front Pharmacol. 2021 Jan
8;11:597942. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.597942. PMID: 33597876; PMCID: PMC7883597.
- McGill AR, Kahlil R, Dutta R, Green R, Howell M, Mohapatra S, Mohapatra SS. SARS–CoV-2 Immuno-Pathogenesis and Potential for Diverse Vaccines and Therapies: Opportunities and Challenges. Infectious Disease Reports. 2021; 13(1):102-125. https://doi.org/10.3390/idr13010013
More Information
For information about the Medical Sciences PhD program, contact 813-974-2836 or biomedphd@usf.edu.
Please note, students do not apply directly to a concentration. Interested students should submit an application for the PhD in Medical Sciences. Concentrations are typically selected during the first year of study.