Research Bench Lab

Research Areas within the Medical College of Wisconsin Center for Infectious Disease Research

Project areas include the study of botulinum toxin, mechanisms of epithelial barrier maintenance and repair, mechanisms of endothelial disruption and traversal by bacterial pathogens, biophysics of bacterial membrane biology, cytokine and chemokine modulation of the intestinal mucosa, opportunistic infections, the emergence of multidrug resistant bacteria, antibody therapeutics, gene regulation of bacterial pathogens, the generation and decay of memory T cells, diagnostics for category A agents and pandemic influenza, drug discovery for unique parasitic aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases, characterization of antimicrobial defensins, the role of endogenous microbiota in human health and disease, mucocutaneous infections, behavioral interventions to prevent infectious diseases, epidemiology of C. difficile infection in the Froedtert Hospital enterprise system, and the mechanisms of replication and latency of intracellular pathogens.

Research Areas and Collaboration Experts

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Bacterial Infection

Joseph T. Barbieri, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
jtb01@mcw.edu
Specialty: Bacterial toxins and pathogenesis

Jenifer Coburn, PhD
Medicine, Infectious Diseases Division
jcoburn@mcw.edu
Specialty: Leptospirosis, Borrelia, Integrin receptors

Dara W. Frank, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
frankd@mcw.edu
Specialty: Pseudomonas and Francisella pathogenesis

Joseph E. Kerschner, MD
Pediatric Otolaryngology
jkerschner@mcw.edu
Specialty: Pediatric Otolaryngology

Christopher Kristich, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
ckristich@mcw.edu
Specialty: Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, Enterococcal genetics

L. Silvia Munoz-Price, MD, PhD
Medicine, Infectious Diseases Division
smunozprice@mcw.edu

Nita Salzman, MD, PhD
Pediatrics
nsalzman@mcw.edu
Specialty: Salmonella pathogenesis, human and mouse defensins, microbiomics

Thomas C. Zahrt, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
tzahrt@mcw.edu
Specialty: Mycobacterial and Francisella genetics and pathogenesis

Fungal and Parasitic Infection

Joseph O. Hill, PhD
Office of Technology Development, Microbiology & Immunology
jhill@mcw.edu
Specialty: Cryptococcus neoformans (fungus), Leishmania (protozoan parasite)

Anna R. Huppler, MD
Department of Pediatrics - Infectious Disease
ahuppler@mcw.edu
Research Interests and Publications

Michael Kron, MD
Medicine, Infectious Diseases Division
mkron@mcw.edu
Specialty: Structure and function of parasite aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (Filaria and other nematodes, schistosomes and other trematodes)

Roy Long, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
rlong@mcw.edu
Specialty: Expertise with molecular genetics in the yeast S. cerevisiae

Jonathan S. Marchant, MA, PhD
Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy
jmarchant@mcw.edu

Global Health

Jenifer Coburn, PhD
Medicine, Infectious Diseases Division
jcoburn@mcw.edu
Specialty: Leptospirosis, Borrelia, Integrin receptors

Michael Kron, MD
Medicine, Infectious Diseases Division
mkron@mcw.edu
Specialty: Structure and function of parasite aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (Filaria and other nematodes, schistosomes and other trematodes)

Jonathan S. Marchant, MA, PhD
Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy
jmarchant@mcw.edu

Immunology

Bonnie Dittel, PhD
Versiti Blood Research Institute
bonnie.dittel@bcw.edu
Specialty: Neuroimmunology, autoimmunity, B cells, T cells, microglial cells

William Drobyski, MD
Medicine
wdrobysk@mcw.edu
Specialty: Transplantation immunology

Michael Dwinell, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
mdwinell@mcw.edu
Specialty: Innate immunity, chemokine regulation of inflammation, cancer

Jack Gorski, PhD
Versiti Blood Research Institute
jack.gorski@bcw.edu
Specialty: T cell memory, Epitope selection, Human immunology

Amy Hudson, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
ahudson@mcw.edu
Specialty: MHC assembly and trafficking

Bryon Johnson, PhD
Pediatrics
bjohnson@mcw.edu
Specialty: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation immunology, cancer immunology

Subramaniam Malarkannan, PhD
Medicine, Versiti Blood Research Institute
Subramaniam.Malarkannan@bcw.edu
Specialty: Molecular mechanisms of Natural killer cell activation, Natural killer cell-mediated immune responses during influenza infections

Laurent Malherbe, PhD
Versiti Blood Research Institute
laurent.malherbe@bcw.edu
Specialty: Vaccine adjuvants, Cellular immunity, Influenza infection

David Margolis, MD
Pediatrics
dmargoli@mcw.edu
Specialty: Graft versus host/Graft versus leukemia/immune compromised host

Nita Salzman, MD, PhD
Pediatrics
nsalzman@mcw.edu
Specialty: Innate Mucosal Immunity, Paneth cells, Antimicrobial Peptides, Pathogen-Microbiome-Host interactions

James Verbsky, MD, PhD
Pediatrics
jverbsky@mcw.edu
Specialty: Immune regulation, Autoinflammatory disorders/fever syndromes, T regulatory cells, Autoimmunity

Demin Wang, PhD
Versiti Blood Research Institute
demin.wang@bcw.edu
Specialty: Signal transduction pathways regulating B-cell development, function, autoimmunity, and lymphoma, Hematopoietic stem cells

Renren Wen, PhD
Versiti Blood Research Institute
renren.wen@bcw.edu
Specialty: Signal transduction in T cell development, activation, and function

Calvin Williams, MD, PhD
Pediatrics
cbwillia@mcw.edu
Specialty: Autoimmunity, T cell development, T cell tolerance, regulatory T cell biology

Microbiome

Christopher Kristich, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
ckristich@mcw.edu
Specialty: Mechanisms of antibiotic resistance, Enterococcal genetics

Nita Salzman, MD, PhD
Pediatrics
nsalzman@mcw.edu
Specialty: Salmonella pathogenesis, human and mouse defensins, microbiomics

Tuberculosis

Thomas C. Zahrt, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
tzahrt@mcw.edu
Specialty: Mycobacterial and Francisella genetics and pathogenesis

Vector-Borne Infection

Jenifer Coburn, PhD
Medicine, Infectious Diseases Division
jcoburn@mcw.edu
Specialty: Leptospirosis, Borrelia, Integrin receptors

Dara W. Frank, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
frankd@mcw.edu
Specialty: Pseudomonas and Francisella pathogenesis

Michael Kron, MD
Medicine, Infectious Diseases Division
mkron@mcw.edu
Specialty: Structure and function of parasite aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (Filaria and other nematodes, schistosomes and other trematodes)

Viral Infectious Disease

Leslie Cockerham, MD
Medicine
lcockerham@mcw.edu
Specialty: Infectious Disease

Jack Gorski, PhD
Versiti Blood Research Institute, Microbiology & Immunology
jack.gorski@bcw.edu
Specialty: Influenza virus

Kelly Henrickson, MD
Pediatrics
khenrick@mcw.edu
Specialty: Influenza & respiratory syncytial virus

Amy Hudson, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
ahudson@mcw.edu
Specialty: Human herpesviruses 6 & 7

William O'Brien, PhD
Ophthalmology, Microbiology & Immunology, Eye Institute
wjob@mcw.edu
Specialty: Herpes simplex virus

Andrew E. Petroll, MD, MS
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine and of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
apetroll@mcw.edu
Specialty: Herpes simplex virus

Andrey Sorokin, PhD
Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology
sorokin@mcw.edu
Specialty: BK virus

Vera Tarakanova, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
vtarakan@mcw.edu
Specialty: Oncogenic herpesvirus

Scott Terhune, PhD
Microbiology & Immunology
sterhune@mcw.edu
Specialty: Cytomegalovirus

Rodney Willoughby, MD
Pediatrics
rewillou@mcw.edu
Specialty: Rabies virus