M&I Teresa O'Meara is a recipient of of the Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease (PATH) program of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Her lab will further study the mechanisms of attachment and virulence for C. auris, with a focus on how the novel adhesin contributes to pathogenesis. On a practical level, their work will suggest strategies for developing vaccine candidates and therapeutics to limit disease caused by this emerging pathogen.

On May 16, 2024, the Regents of the University of Michigan promoted Melanie Pearson, Ph.D., to Associate Professor on the Research Track, effective September 1, 2024.

Faith Anderson, Jaime Fuentes, and Andrés Rivera Ruiz, M&I Ph.D. candidates, have been awarded prestigious fellowships from Rackham Graduate School, in recognition of their academic excellence. Congratulations, we’re so proud of you!

In emergency rooms and intensive care units across the country, clinicians make split-second decisions about which antibiotics to give a patient when a life threatening infection is suspected. Now, a study reveals that these decisions may have unintended consequences for patient outcomes.

In the second season of The Fundamentals podcast, co-hosts Kelly Malcom and Jordan Goebig talk to several leading experts from the Medical School about their fields and the fundamental questions they are trying to answer — and discover why U-M is such an amazing place for research. Six new episodes of the popular podcast were released on May 6

A study builds on previous work that found depriving T cells of iron prevented cells from proliferating. The current study, published in PNAS, found that excess iron is just as problematic.

Today on The Fundamentals is Dr. Maria Castro, the R.C. Schneider collegiate professor of neurosurgery, and a professor of cell and developmental biology at the University of Michigan Medical School. Her research program aims to develop immunotherapies for primary and metastatic brain cancer, studying basic immune biology mechanisms leading to clinical implementation. She has been inducted into the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, the Latin American Academy of Sciences, and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows. She has won numerous awards for her contributions to basic science and cancer research and is a diversity ambassador for the Cancer Biology Graduate Training Program. You can learn more about Dr. Castro here, and you can follow her @castro2355_mg, the Rogel Cancer Center @UMRogelCancer, the department of neurosurgery @umichneuro, Michigan Neurscience Institute @UM_MNI and the department of cell and developmental biology @UMCDB on X

Four Graduate Program in Immunology alumni participated in a panel discussion about their career paths.

This M&I award recognizes outstanding dissertations.

Researchers improved memory and reduced neuroinflammation in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s Disease, suggesting another avenue for potential treatment.

M&I grant administration team attends and presents at the National Council for University Research Administrators (NCURA) conferences

There are many intriguing aspects to the honor of a faculty member holding a named professorship in the University of Michigan Medical School: the excitement of receiving one of the highest honors the U-M can bestow on a faculty member; an understanding of the rich history of the person(s) for whom their professorship is named; and the flexibility of what the professorship allows the holders to do during their career. On April 1, the Medical School hosted a celebration of faculty who were appointed to named professorships in 2023.

Support the Microbiology and Immunology Annual Fund on Giving Blue Day.

In December 2023, Jona Kalaj and Angela Kelly received a 2023 Department of Microbiology and Immunology AdMIration award for their dedication to the department’s DEI goals

In January 2024, Michael J. Imperiale, PhD, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, started his tenure as Professor Emeritus after his retirement from the University of Michigan (U-M) Department of Microbiology and Immunology (M&I) in December 2023.