Bacteria can cause cancer?!

Microbes influence our bodies in complex ways.

Microbiology, Infection & Immunity

To understand diverse microorganisms, their pathogenesis and resultant immune responses, research in MCB probes microbial physiology, the composition and function of microbiomes, innate and adaptive immunity, and translational strategies to predict infection epidemics, design better therapies and reengineer host and microbe for improved health and industry.

Model Curricula

Autumn

MCB 532
Human Pathogenic Viruses

ENVH 444/544
Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria/Genes Impact on the Environment and Public Health

GENOME 553
Advanced Genetic Analysis

winter

PABIO 552
Cell Biology of Human Pathogens and Disease

CONJ 544
Protein Structure, Modification and Regulation

SEFS 522
Plant-Microbe Interactions

spring

MICROM 553
Molecular interactions of bacteria with their hosts

Dr. Harmit Malik, an HHMI investigator, explores how organisms create and resolve conflict

When small things matter

Seattle MCB comprises Benaroya Research Institute, which is a leader in autoimmune diseases, the Center for Infectious Disease Research, which is focused on HIV/AIDS, tubercuolosis, malaria and emerging infectious diseases, and the Institute for Systems Biology, which explores environmental microbes and the host-pathogen interface. The UW Department of Microbiology recently celebrated its centennial in 2015 and UW ranks #3 in Microbiology graduate studies and #6 in Immunology graduate studies according to US News and World Report. With the Gates Foundation nearby, Seattle MCB is a world-leading hub for infectious diseases research.

Faculty Area Directors: Michael Lagunoff, Andrew Oberst

Student Area Directors: Kristen Mittelsteadt, Nicholas Maurice

Lab Openings

Dudley Lab:
All Quarters

Yeast, Genetics, Genomics, Technology Development, Biofilm formation, Antifungal drugs

Paredez Lab:
Permanent Position

Giardia, parasite, actin, rac, Rho GTPase, signaling, evolutionary cell biology, cysts, trafficking, cytokinesis, microscopy, biochemistry

Geballe Lab:
Autumn, Spring, Winter

Bornfeldt Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Atherosclerosis, diabetes, glucose, immune cells, lipids

Dandekar Lab:
Spring, Summer, Winter

quorum sensing, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, sociomicrobiology, cooperation

Avgousti Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Chromatin, adenovirus, herpesvirus, histones

Fredricks Lab:
Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

Sherman Lab:
Autumn, Summer, Winter, Permanent Position

Veesler Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Cryo-electron microscopy, viruses, viral fusion proteins, bacterial secretion systems, ion channels,vaccine design, structure-based drug design

Borenstein Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Sokurenko Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Fang Lab:
Spring, Permanent Position

Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, macrophages, phagocyte, nitric oxide, reactive oxygen species, pathogenesis, bacteria, infection

Gerner Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Innate immunity, adaptive immunity, vaccine development, cancer, dendritic cells, T cells, microscopy, imaging, lymph nodes

Grundner Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, phosphosignaling, chemical proteomics, functional genomics

Gu Lab:
Autumn, Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

Protein-protein interaction, Protein Barcoding, In Situ Sequencing

Hamerman Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

innate immunity, macrophages, inflammation, myeloid development

Headley Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Intravital Microscopy, Lung Metastasis, Immune System, Myeloid, , Monocytes, Macrophages, Dendritic Cells

Malik Lab:
Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

centromeres, heterochromatin, Drosophila, viruses, budding yeast, fission yeast, mitochondria, speciation, retroelements, histone variants, Tetrahymena, bacteria, phage, protein, evolution, cytoskeleton, multigene families, histones

Bloom Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Smith Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

adenovirus, HPV, rotavirus, defensins, enteroid, Paneth cells

Kollman Lab:
Spring, Summer, Winter, Permanent Position

Cryo-EM, structural biology, cytoskeleton, metabolism, X-ray crystallography, electron microscopy

Lund Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Virus infection, HSV-2, HIV-1, West Nile virus, Influenza, Regulatory T cell, Tissue-resident memory T cell, PrEP

von Moltke Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

helminth, parasite, type 2, allergy, tuft cell, intestine, mucosal immunology, innate lymphoid cell, ILC2, innate immunology

Mullins Lab:
Autumn, Spring, Winter, Permanent Position

hiv, siv, fiv, felv, HHV-8, KSHV, pathogenesis, vaccine, reservoirs, computational biology

Zimring Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Transfusion, Red Blood Cells, Platelets, Alloimmunization, Hemolytic Transfusion Reactions, Blood Storage, Bone Marrow Transplantation

Kerr Lab:
Winter

adaptive landscapes, bacteria, computational model, evolution, experimental evolution, genetics, mathematical model, microbial, phage

Lee Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Virus, membrane fusion, cryo-EM, glycoproteins, dynamics, structure, HIV, influenza, membranes, fusion proteins, vaccines, antibodies, immunology, transmission, mass spectrometry

Koch Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Immunity, Microbiota, Maternal-Offspring Interactions

Kueh Lab:
Spring, Summer, Winter, Permanent Position

Immunology, stem cell biology, quantitative biology, systems biology, synthetic biology, live-cell imaging,

Urdahl Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

Lagunoff Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

virus, Kaposi's Sarcoma, Kaposi's Sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, KSHV, viral oncogenesis, cancer, herpesvirus, virology, signal transduction, metabolism, metabolomics, transcriptomics, endothelial cell, viral immunology, KS,

Stamatatos Lab:
All Quarters, Permanent Position

B cells, antibodies, vaccines, germline antibodies, knock-in mice