Microbiology and Immunology

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Program Coordinator Laura Kasman,
Ph.D. kasmanL_at_musc.edu
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MI program currently

• 17 Ph.D. students
• 4 MD/Ph.D. students
• 1 DMD/Ph.D. student
• 2 Masters students
• 15 Departmental faculty
• 40 Total Program faculty

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Program Requirements

• 6 credits in advanced MI courses in 2nd year
• Written qualifying exam, summer after 2nd year
• Thesis proposal defense, usually sometime in 3rd
  year for admission to candidacy
• 12 advanced credits total, not including MI
  Seminar

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MI Advanced course offerings
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Departmental vs. Program Faculty

• Department Faculty have MI as their home
  department
• MI Program Faculty can be faculty members from
  any MUSC department that have research interests
  related to microbiology or immunology
• Faculty can be affiliated with more than one
  graduate program

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MI Department Faculty Interests
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Bacteriologists

• Michael Schmidt Hal May
  Ed Balish

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Virologists

• Natalie Sutkowski John Y. Dong
  Laura Kasman

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Immunologists

• Janardan Stephen Gabriel Aziz
  Carl
• Pandey Tomlinson Virella Haque
  Atkinson
• Also Natalie Sutkowski

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Tumor Immunologists Gene Therapy

• James Norris Christina Xiang Liu
  Semyon
• Voelkel-Johnson
  Rubinchik
• Also Stephen Tomlinson John Dong

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Program Faculty

• Surgery
• Prabhakar Baliga
• Mike Nishimura
• Kenneth Chavin
• David Cole
• Yi Zhang
• Pathology
• Amanda LaRue
• Otolaryngology
• Rita Young

• Neurosciences/Neurology
• Narendra Banik
• Narayan Bhat
• James Cook
• William Tyor
• Swapan Ray
• Pediatrics
• Inderjit Singh
• Isabel Virella-Lowell

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Program Faculty

• Rheumatology
• James Oates
• Maria Trojanowska
• Gary Gilkeson
• Biochemistry
• Greg Warr
• Maurizio Del Poeta
• Division of Infectious Disease
• Christopher Parsons

• College of Dental Medicine
• Robert Boackle
• Caroline Westwater
• Radiation Oncology
• Sebastiano Gattoni-Celli
• College of Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Craig Beeson
• Cell Biology Anatomy
• Titus Reaves

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Entrepreneurship by MI faculty
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MOUNT PLEASANT, SC (AUGUST 30, 2007) -
Groundbreaking ceremony for new facility at
Innovation Park, in the economic development zone
of The Market at Oakland.

• GenPhar, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company
  dedicated to providing vaccines that protect
  against infectious diseases with great
  socio-economic impacts worldwide.
• Biodefense programs GenPhar's vaccine platform
  is ideally designed for biodefense because one
  vaccine can prevent infection from multiple virus
  subtypes.

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SphingoGene, Inc.
James S. Norris, PhD Co-Founder, SphingoGene,
Inc. http//www.sphingogene.com Professor and
Chairman, MUSC norrisjs_at_musc.edu
SphingoGene, Inc. is focused on commercialization
of small molecule therapeutics that modify
ceramide metabolism to overcome resistance to
chemo and radiation therapy and promote apoptosis
in cancer cells. Ceramide is a tumor suppressor
sphingolipid involved in regulation of cell
death. SphingoGene, Inc.s molecules are
rationally designed and proven to inhibit enzymes
that create resistance to conventional cancer
therapies. Our goal is to utilize these small
molecules in combination with standard of care
radiation or chemotherapy to enhance cancer cell
death.
Products and Services

• Commercial Lipidomic Services
• Molecular diagnostic to predict patient
• Response
• Combination therapy for standard of care
• Therapies in cancer patients (chemo, radiation
  and gene therapy

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Stephen Tomlinson, PhD Professor tomlinss_at_musc.edu
Controlling Inflammation to Treat Human
Disease Applying novel technologies to create
better treatments Contact Woodruff Emlen
MDwemlen_at_taligentherapeutics.com Taligen
Therapeutics, Inc. is a development stage
biotechnology company with novel technology to
modulate and regulate activation of the
complement system. Inappropriate complement
activation leading to inflammation is a major
contributor to a large number of human diseases.
Taligen has proof of concept data in animal
models of diseases as diverse as asthma, macular
degeneration, immune renal disease, inflammatory
arthritis, ischemia-reperfusion injury, stroke
and traumatic brain injury. Product
Development Currently focused on the areas of
asthma and age related macular degeneration.
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Microbially Generated Electricity
24/7 Remote Power, Sensor Control
Dr. Hal May, Ph.D. VP, MFC Technologies
LLC http//www.mfctech.net hmay_at_mfctech.net  Assoc
. Prof. MUSC mayh_at_musc.edu
Increase Biofuel Production
Control Waste, Odor and Algae
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• MFC Tech is focused on the development of
  microbial fuel cell technology (MFCs), which
  utilizes the ability of bacteria to generate
  electricity.
• Patentable approaches are targeted for the
  enhancement of waste management and electricity
  generation, namely
• 24/7 remote power generation such as along
  highways and in retention ponds
• Development of specific sensors or the powering
  of sensors in remote locations
• Enhancement of biofuel production through the
  application of MFC technology to cellulosic
  ethanol fermentation
• The reduction of agricultural waste, odors and
  algal blooms in waste lagoons and retention ponds