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department of pathology and laboratory medicine

Graduate Studies Program

 

The Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine offers a graduate program leading to a PhD in Pathology. The PhD program provides courses, seminars and laboratory skills for students to understand the pathogenesis and molecular biology of human diseases. Students are expected to complete the required core curriculum by participating in the Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences Program as well as department-specific coursework during the first two years of the program. The comprehensive Interdisciplinary Program is designed to meet the educational needs of students from diverse backgrounds. After completion of the Interdisciplinary Program, the students are exposed to courses that build upon their existing knowledge in their field of interest. Thereafter, the students perform research for their thesis in their selected laboratory under the guidance of an advisor/mentor within the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. Completion of such rigorous training will provide graduating students with the ability to become independent scholars in academic or industrial settings and/or government programs involved in human health research.

 

Research within the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine receives significant financial support from federal (National Institutes of Health) sources as well as national/international foundations. The department research laboratories are located on the 10th floor of the Medical Research and Educational building (opened in May 2009) providing a spacious research environment and state-of-the-art laboratory facilities. The faculty in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine utilize state-of-the-art research techniques/methodologies to investigate important issues associated with human diseases in several basic as well as translational research projects.

 

Current research focus of the department faculty and students include:

 

  • Neuronal and glial cell biology
  • Neurovascular biology and neuroinflammation
  • Effects of drugs of abuse (alcohol, opioids, etc.) on CNS immune systems
  • Innate and adaptive immune responses to chronic viral infections including HIV-1, hepatitis C virus, Human T-Cell lymphotropic virus and Herpes Simplex virus
  • Trafficking of immune cells, in particular dendritic cells, to the CNS
    genomic imprinting