Vermont Center for Immunobiology and Infectious Disease

Research Projects

A research training program in Immunology and Infectious Diseases exists with opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. This is supported by funds from both the COBRE and T32 Training Grant awards. In addition to studies of basic cellular and molecular immune mechanisms, there is a robust translational component performing vaccine trials.

Faculty Projects

• Eyal Amiel, Ph.D. Bio
  Assistant Professor of Biomedical and Health Sciences
  Dendritic cell biology, immune cell metabolism, cell signaling networks
  
  
• John Barlow, Ph.D. Bio
  Associate Professor of Animal & Veterinary Sciences
  Mastitis epidemiology, infectious disease epidemiology, zoonotic disease, antimicrobial resistance, global animal and public health
  
  
• Elizabeth Bonney, Ph.D. Bio; Lab
  Professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology
  Pregnancy’s influence on T-cell regulation, the role of infection and innate immunity in preterm birth.
  
  
• Jason Botten, Ph.D.  Bio; Lab
  Professor of Medicine
  Virus-host interaction
  
  
• Jonathan Boyson, Ph.D. Bio; Lab
  Roger H. Allbee Professor of Surgery
  The regulation and function of innate-like T cells in the host immune response
  
  
• Emily Bruce, Ph.D. 
  Understanding how viruses (arenaviruses, hantaviruses, influenza virus) interact with host cellular machinery to facilitate virus particle assembly and release and the identification of neutralizing antibodies against these viruses.
  
  
• Ralph Budd, M.D. Bio; Lab
  Director of VCIID, University Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
  Regulation of caspases in the immune system; Function of gamma/delta T cells
  
  
• Sean Diehl, Ph.D. Bio
  Associate Professor of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
  Understand how infectious agents engage the human immune system and impart long-term memory
  
  
• Julie Dragon, Ph.D. Bio
  Research Assistant Professor of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics and Biology
  Bioinformatics
  
  
• Sally Huber, Ph.D. Bio
  Professor Emeritus of Pathology
  To determine how virus infections trigger the development of autoimmunity
  
  
• Christopher Huston, M.D. Bio
  Professor of Medicine – Infectious Diseases
  Host-Pathogen Interactions of Intestinal Protozoa
  
  
• Beth D. Kirkpatrick, M.D. Bio
  Professor and Chair of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
  Director, Translational Global Infectious Diseases Research Center (TGIR) COBRE and Vaccine Testing Center
  
  
• Dimitry Krementsov, Ph.D. Bio
  Assistant Professor of Biomedical & Health Sciences
  Autoimmunity, microbiome, neuroimmunology, sex differences, multiple sclerosis, gene-by-environment interactions, virology, inflammatory bowel disease
  
  
• Dwight Matthews, Ph.D. Bio
  Pomeroy Emeritus Professor of Chemistry
  Director, Mass spectrometry and proteomics core facility; Analytical chemistry, mass spectrometry, proteomics, metabolomics, stable isotope tracers, and in vivo metabolite flux and kinetic measurements
  
  
• Matthew Poynter, Ph.D.  Bio
  Professor of Medicine
  Director, Cellular, Molecular, and Biomedical Sciences program; Influences of pulmonary innate and adaptive immunity on respiratory health and disease
  
  
• Mercedes Rincon, Ph.D. Bio; Lab
  Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
  Transcriptional regulation of genes; IL-6 function; Immune response to influenza
  
  
• Cory Teuscher, Ph.D. Bio; Lab
  Professor of Medicine and Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
  Immunogenetics of autoimmune and infectious diseases
  
  
• Markus Thali, Ph.D. Bio
  Professor of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
  HIV infection
  
  
• Gary Ward, Ph.D. Bio
  Professor of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
  Pathogenesis of Toxoplasma gondii
  
  
• Matthew Wargo, Ph.D.  Bio
  Associate Professor of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
  Betaine regulation of pseudomonas virulence

Core Facilities

The VCIID has responsibility for, or contributes to, the following facilities at the College's Core Facilities, our campus-wide resources that provide researchers with the sophisticated equipment and methodologies that help expand their work.

• Biosafety Level 3 (BSL3) Laboratory and Inhalation Facility
• Flow Cytometry Facility
• Vermont Integrated Genomics Resource (VIGR)
  
• Mass Spectometry and Proteomics