Infectious Disease

Infectious Diseases are still a dominant public health priority, despite many advances related to vaccines and antibiotics. Development of new antibiotics has been severely limited over the past two decades and many microbial pathogens have now acquired resistance to our entire arsenal of treatments. Research efforts at KU are focused on elucidating molecular mechanisms of pathogenicity for select bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Similarly, research efforts are directed towards understanding the immune responses to certain pathogens. Together these efforts will facilitate the development of new antimicrobials and vaccines. Graduate students performing research in this area will gain experience in Microbial Pathogenesis and the Immune Responses.