NEWS | Microbiology & Immunology
New COBRE Grant Awarded
A new 5-year, $10,529,128 Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant has been awarded to support the Center for Applied Immunology and Pathological Processes. Dr. Andrew Yurochko is the principal investigator. These funds will support recruitment of new faculty and development of infrastructure for research into immunology, inflammation, and related areas.
The fight against COVID-19:
Members of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology have been instrumental in establishing and operating the new Emerging Viral Threats Laboratory to serve the State of Louisiana by providing tests for SARS-CoV2.
Graduations:
Congratulations to Dr. Julia Myers who has successfully defended her doctoral dissertation and is now the newest Ph.D. graduate of the department.
New Opportunities:
The Department of Microbiology and Immunology has established a Summer Undergraduate Fellowship Program in collaboration with the Fundación Barrié, La Coruna, Spain to host two Spanish nationals to participate in the departmental summer undergraduate research program.
Grants and Awards:
Dr. Martin Sapp was recently awarded a 5-year NIH R01 grant to entitled "Human papillomavirus entry: late trafficking and establishment of infection."
Dr. Heather Fulkerson, a recent graduate of the Department, received the Dean's Award for excellence in research and spoke at the LSUHS graduation ceremony May 21, 2021.
Dr. Martin Muggeridge has been honored by the Office of Academic Affairs and the SAGE Honor Society with the Superior Teaching and Recognition (STAR) award for excellence in teaching.
Dr. Jeremy Kamil was awarded a Fast Grant for his work on sequencing SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Dr. Andrew Yurochko is Co-PI on a recently awarded Program Project Grant from the National Institutes of Health focusing on how HCMV affects signaling pathways in infected hematopoietic progenitor cells.
Temitayo Bamgbose won the People's Choice Award for microbiology and immunology in the Biorender graphical abstract contest.
Heather Fulkerson was awarded the Charles S. McCleskey Award for outstanding oral presentation at the ASM South Central Branch Meeting, Oxford, MS, Nov 1-2, 2019.
Heather Fulkerson has been awarded a Malcom Feist Predoctoral Fellowship. This brings to 3 the number of our students who are currently supported by fellowships: Sadie Rice (Carroll Feist) and Samantha Murphy (Ike Muslow).
Recent graduate Tod Guidry has been awarded a Science Policy Fellowship by the American Association of Cancer Research. This is the first time that the AACR has awarded such a fellowship.
Meetings and Presentations:
13th International Bordetella Symposium - Dr. Monica Gestal served as Conference organizer.
South Central Branch of ASM (American Society for Microbiology) Annual Meeting 2022 - Hosted by LSU Health Shreveport. Conference Organizers: Dr. Monica Gestal, Dr. Andrew Yurochko, Dr. Jason Bodily, and Dr. Rona Scott.
Heather Fulkerson was chosen to present her work at the 7th International Congenital CMV Conference & 17th International CMV Workshop in Birmingham, AL, April 7-11, 2019. Dr. Andrew Yurochko was chosen as Keynote Speaker and will also give a talk at a breakout session at the same meeting.
Sadie Rice was selected to give an oral presentation at the DNA Tumor Virus Meeting held in Trieste, Italy July 9-12, 2019. Dr. Jason Bodily and Dr. Katarzyna Zwolinska also gave oral presentations.
Samantha Murphy and Kellie Brown gave oral presentations at the 38th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Virology held in Minneapolis, MN July 20-24, 2019.
Appointments and Service:
Dr. Andrew Yurochko was selected to serve a two-year term as an American Society of Microbiology Distinguished Lecturer for 2023-2024.
Dr. Jason Bodily named President of the South Central Branch of ASM (American Society for Microbiology) in 2022.
Dr. Matthew Woolard was chosen as a co-chair for American Heart Association BSc1 Committee
Dr. Andrew Yurochko was selected to serve on the American Heart Association Steering Committee.
Dr. Martin Sapp has been appointed as chairperson of the VIRA study section at the NIH.
Publications:
Alina Holban, Courtney Gregoire, Monica Gestal. Front. Microbiol., 26 September 2022 Sec. Infectious Agents and Disease https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.983149
Dr. Seong Kim's laboratory recently published papers in Journal of Virology and Antiviral Research.
Dr. Andrew Yurochko's laboratory recently published Journal of Virology (spotlighted), PNAS, and Annual Reviews of Virology.
Dr. Martin Sapp's laboratory has recently published papers in the Journal of Virology (spotlighted), PLOS Pathogens, and Cellular Microbiology.
Alumni News:
Dr. Carrie Coleman (Ph.D. 2011) is now Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Dr. Stephen DiGiuseppe (Ph.D. 2017) is now Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Biomedical Division, Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Monroe, LA.
Dr. Heather Fulkerson (Ph.D. 2020) and Dr. Sadie Rice (Ph.D. 2020) have published a new book introducing microbiology concepts to children.
