Training Program in Virology

Training Sites

  • University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
  • Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Wistar Institute
 

Viral infectious diseases remain an important cause of human morbidity and mortality. Virology has long been a significant strength at the University of Pennsylvania. This NIH sponsored program trains outstanding graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in experimental virology preparing them to become scientific leaders in this field within the academic community, research institutes, and pharmaceutical companies. The goals of this training program are:

  1. to provide trainees with a thorough background in the fundamentals of virology in the context of modern molecular biology, genetics, cell biology and immunology
  2. to provide each trainee with an intensive exposure to laboratory research, utilizing current methods in molecular and cellular biology, under the supervision of one of the 21 trainers on this grant

Students supported by the training grant work on a wide variety of DNA and RNA viruses, including animal and human herpes viruses, retroviruses, arenaviruses such as LCMV and Junin, human and murine coronaviruses, adeno, adeno-associated, Coxsackie, filo, influenza, pox, and rhabdo viruses, and arthropod-borne RNA viruses, including the flavivirus West Nile virus, the alphavirus Sindbis and the bunyavirus Rift Valley Fever virus. Research at the host-pathogen interface includes analysis of innate, intrinsic and adaptive responses as well as host genetic requirements. For students, selection of a dissertation laboratory is preceded by three laboratory rotations. Training also includes more formal lecture and seminar-style courses taken in the first two years of graduate school. The faculty in this program constitute a close-knit group which interacts regularly with the trainees and with each other. The training grant organizes a highly popular weekly training seminar at which the trainees from each investigator's laboratory present their work and camaraderie is established and maintained. This informal seminar provides the trainees with excellent experience in oral presentation and helps the faculty keep track of the progress of each trainee. Virology related training is supplemented by a number of seminar series, conferences, and retreats. Trainees also receive training in ethical and responsible conduct in research.

Predoctoral

Predoctoral trainees must be admitted to candidacy for the PhD degree in one of the graduate groups that comprise the Biomedical Graduate Studies program at Penn. For information on applying contact BGS or visit the web sites listed below.

BIOMEDICAL GRADUATE STUDIES
University of Pennsylvania
421 Curie Boulevard
160 Biomedical Research Building (BRB) 2/3
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6064
Telephone: (215) 898-1030
FAX: (215) 898-2671
E-mail: bgs@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Biomedical Graduate Studies
Microbiology, Virology, and Parasitology program

Postdoctoral

Interested postdoctoral candidates should contact trainers directly and also send curriculum vitae and three letters of reference to:

Paul Bates, PhD
University of Pennsylvania
Perelman School of Medicine
Department of Microbiology
225 Johnson Pavilion
3610 Hamilton Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6076

Email: pbates@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Trainers

  • Paul Bates, PhD, Microbiology, School of Medicine. Virus host interactions retroviruses, bunyaviruses, coronaviruses and the host intrinsic immunity factor Tetherin.
  • Frederic Bushman, PhD, Microbiology, School of Medicine. Transfer of genetic information between cells and organisms. HIV integration, Poxvirus replication.
  • Sara Cherry, PhD, Microbiology, School of Medicine.  Cellular factors that regulate viral pathogenesis, arthropod borne viruses.
  • Ronald Collman, MD, Medicine, School of Medicine. Lung biome and analyzing HIV entry.
  • Ike Eisenlohr, VMD, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine. MHC class I- and class II-restricted antigen processing and presentation of viral antigens.
  • Elizabeth Grice, PhD, Dermatology, School of Medicine. Integrating genomics with microbiology, immunology and dermatology (host -microbe interactions).
  • Ronald Harty, PhD, Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine. Retrovirus host-microbe interaction.
  • Scott Hensley, PhD, Immunology, Wistar Institute. Influenza virus evasion of host immune responses.
  • Paul M. Lieberman, PhD, Wistar Institute. Epstein Barr Virus replication and mechanisms of viral genome stability and control of viral latency.
  • Michela Locci, PhD, Microbiology, School of Medicine. The biology of huma T follicular helper cells.
  • Carolina Lopez, PhD, Pathobiology, School of Veterinary Medicine. Innate immunity, virus-host interactions.
  • Susan R. Weiss, PhD, Microbiology, School of Medicine. Pathogenesis and replication of murine coronavirus and SARS coronavirus.
  • Matt Weitzman, PhD, Infectious Diseases, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Cellular host responses to virus infection and the environment encountered and manipulated by viruses.
  • John Wherry, PhD, Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics , School of Medicine. Immune regulatory mechanisms during chronic viral infections.
  • James Wilson, MD, PhD, Medicine, School of Medicine. Development of viral-based gene therapies for genetic diseases.
  • Elizabeth White, PhD, Otorhinolaryngology, School of Medicine. Identifying HPV interacting proteins so as to better understand host requirements for HPV replication and pathogenesis.
  • Jianxin You, PhD, Microbiology, School of Medicine. Human papillomaviruses-host interaction during persistent latent infection.