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The inhabitants of Earth are mostly microbes, and their activities are central to human welfare. Microbes can cause disease, but a properly functioning microbiome is essential for health. Microbes spoil food, but drive many forms of food production. Microbes mediate organismic decay, but catalyze numerous geochemical processes essential for life on Earth.

Research in the Penn Microbiology Department focuses on infectious agents that threaten global health, with an emphasis on understanding molecular mechanisms and developing key new methods. Areas of focus include SARS-CoV-2, HIV, pathogenic bacteria of the airway and gut, cancer causing viruses, emerging infectious diseases, and the human microbiome. On the host side, faculty study many areas of immunology related to infection, including innate and adaptive immunity, tumor immunology and vaccine development.

Departmental Events

  • Prokaryotic Seminar

    Monday, March 18, 4pm, 209 Johnson Pavilion

    Lauren Palmer, PhD:: Univ Illinois “Nutrients in colonization by the superbug Acinetobacter baumannii”

     

  • Virology Seminar

    Tuesday, Mar 19, 12pm, 209 Johnson Pavilion

    Mark Dittmar :: Cherry Lab and Daniel Morris :: Shaw Lab “Discovering antivirals against henipaviruses, a highly pathogenic genus of zoonotic paramyxoviruses” “TCD4 Binding Site Glycan Deficient SHIVs Elicit Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies in Rhesus Macaques”

  • Microbiology Seminar

    Wednesday, Mar 20, 12pm, Austrian Auditorium, CRB

    Andrea Reboldi, PhD  ::  UMass “Intestinal IgA response: from generation to regulation"

     

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