C4MInD Principal Investigators
Rushika Perera
Associate Professor
Co-Director, C4MInD
Dept. of Microbiology, immunology and pathology
Research Interests:
Metabolism of viral infections, arboviruses, coronaviruses, mosquito metabolism, disease biomarker discovery, natural products biology, antivirals, metabolomics.
John Belisle
Professor
Co-Director, C4MInD
Dept. of Microbiology, immunology and pathology
Research Interests:
Biochemistry of bacterial pathogens (Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae, Borrelia burgdorferi) and diseases (tuberculosis, leprosy, Lyme disease); metabolomics; proteomics; mass spectrometry; biomarker discovery.
Zaid Abdo
Professor
Dept. of Microbiology, immunology and pathology
Research Interests:
Microbiome and interactions with the host immune system and infectious diseases; contribution of the microbiome to antimicrobial resistance; computational tools for high throughput sequence data; inferential and predictive models and machine learning methods for complex biological systems.
Randall Basaraba
Professor
Dept. of Microbiology, immunology and pathology
Research Interests:
Pathology of mycobacterial infections, animal models of tuberculosis in humans and cattle, mycobacterial utilization of host macromolecules, drug therapy tolerance.
Carol Blair
Professor
Dept. of Microbiology, immunology and pathology
Research Interests:
Molecular virology; Arbovirus replication; mosquito vector competence for transmission; RNA-based mosquito antiviral defense; exo-siRNA; PIWI-interacting RNA pathways; mosquito-specific viruses.
Brad Borlee
Associate Professor
Dept. of Microbiology, immunology and pathology
Research Interests:
Molecular bacteriology; bacterial behavior in microbial communities; secondary messengers; quorum-sensing signal molecules; secreted polysaccharides; Burkholderia pseudomallei, Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Patrick Brennan
Professor
Dept. of Microbiology, immunology and pathology
Research Interests:
Bacterial Biochemistry; physiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae and non-tuberculous mycobacteria; structure, biosynthesis, and genetics of the cell wall; new drug development; diagnostics
Delphi Chatterjee
Professor
Dept. of Microbiology, immunology and pathology
Research Interests:
Chemical Biology; glycomics; glycobiology; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Mycobacterium leprae; diagnostic platforms; metabolomics of granuloma development; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Joshua Chan
Associate Professor
Dept. of Chemical & Biological Engineering
Research Interests:
Computational modeling and engineering of microbiomes; metabolic interactions within the microbiome and their relevance to human health
Adam Chicco
Associate Professor
Director, Colorado Center for Cardiovascular Research
Dept. of Biomedical Sciences
Research Interests:
Cardiorespiratory physiology and metabolism; lipid metabolism in cardiovascular disease and diabetes; mitochondrial function; animal models of human disease; dietary and pharmacological interventions; central regulators of metabolism; metabolic adaptations to physiological and pathogenic stressors
Dean Crick
Professor
Dept. of Microbiology, immunology and pathology
Research Interests:
Bacterial biochemistry; metabolism of isoprenoids; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; development of anti-mycobacterial drugs; drug resistance
Gregg Dean
Professor
Department Head
Dept. of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
Research Interests:
Immunopathogenesis of viral infections; relationships between mucosal immunity, oral vaccination and host microbiome; development of probiotic vaccine platforms utilizing recombinant Lactobacillus spp; systems immunology approaches
Karolien Denef
Interim Chair, Analytical Resources Core (ARC)
Director, ARC Center for Materials and Molecular Analysis
Research Interests:
Bio-engineer; mass spectrometry; operation, management, administration and development of analytical core facilities and infrastructure; driving strategic initiatives for core facilities
Jessica Elf
Assistant Professor, CVMBS, Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences
Research Interests:
epidemiology, environmental health, air pollution, tobacco use, HIV, TB
Marcela Henao Tamayo
Associate Professor
Director, Flow Cytometry Core Facility
Dept. of Microbiology, immunology and pathology
Research Interests:
Immunology and pathogenesis of infectious diseases; mycobacterial diseases; vaccine development and evaluation; flow cytometry
Michael Kirby
Professor
Director, Pattern Analysis Laboratory and Data Science Research Institute
Dept. of Mathematics
Research Interests:
Computational and Applied Mathematics; geometric data analysis; mathematical modeling and analysis of infectious diseases and host responses; machine learning
Michael Lyons
Assistant Professor
Dept of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
Research Interests:
Development of mathematical and computational methods and tools for antimicrobial chemotherapy; clinical trial design for tuberculosis
Julie Moreno
Assistant Professor
Dept of Environmental Health and Radiological Sciences
Research Interests:
Prion biology; mechanisms of misfolding proteins diseases (NPMDs); neurodegenerative diseases and aging; neuronal toxicity, cellular mechanisms of neurons; stem cell therapies; small molecules therapeutics of cellular stress pathways
Brendan Podell
Assistant Professor
Co-Director, CSU Experimental Pathology Facility (EPF)
Dept. of Microbiology, immunology and pathology
Research Interests:
Pathology of infectious diseases; animal model; host-pathogen interaction; host susceptibility to infection; host-directed treatments; immune and metabolic mechanisms of tuberculosis and comorbidities (diabetes and nutrient deficiencies); quantitative pathology
Sandra Quackenbush
Professor
Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs
Dept. of Microbiology, immunology and pathology
Research Interests:
Viral protein regulation of host gene expression; retroviruses and flaviviruses control of mediator complex kinases (CDK8 and CDK19); viral control of oncogene transcription; immune response and metabolic genes
Kelly Santangelo
Associate Professor
Co-Director, CSU Experimental Pathology Facility (EPF)
Dept of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
Research Interests:
Applied molecular pathology and comparative medicine; primary and post-traumatic musculoskeletal conditions; translational animal models; age and injury-related skeletal tissue degeneration; advanced imaging and gait analysis; pathogenesis of joint, muscle, bone, and tendon disorders
Tony Schountz
Associate Professor
Dept. of Microbiology, immunology and pathology
Research Interests:
Immunology of infectious disease reservoirs, immune responses of bats; bat-borne human pathogenic viruses (HL18NL11 bat influenza A virus, coronaviruses, Nipah virus, ebolaviruses)
Richard Slayden
Professor
Dept. of Microbiology, immunology and pathology
Research Interests:
Therapeutics of bacterial infectious disease; drug development, discovery and mode-of-action; in vitro and in vivo models of efficacy against priority A-C bacterial pathogens and multi-drug resistant bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Franscicella tularensis, Burkhoderia pseudomallei, Yersinia pestis); bacterial signaling and division, transcriptomics
Kathryn Stoner
Professor
Dept of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology
Research Interests:
Long-nosed bat metabolomics as it relates to movement ecology and population dynamics, bat dietary analysis, wildlife ecology, conservation biology, applied ecology, biometrics
Joel Rovnak
Associate Professor
Dept of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
Research Interests:
Molecular virology, molecular structures and mechanisms of eukaryotic gene expression and viral proteins that target these structures; host transcription complex stability and control; Herpesviruses, Retroviruses, Flaviviruses, and Coronaviruses
Ron Tjalkens
Professor
Dept of Environmental Health and Radiological Sciences
Research Interests:
Neuroinflammation; glial cells in neurodegenerative diseases; Parkinson’s Disease; molecular regulation of innate immune inflammatory responses; environmental neurotoxins on neurodegenerative disease; neurotropic viruses; inflammation and protein aggregation in neurodegenerative disorders; transgenic models; high content fluorescence imaging
Stuart Tobet
Professor
Director, School of Biomedical Engineering
Dept of Biomedical Sciences
Research Interests:
Biomedical engineering; cellular and molecular events underlying organ differentiation and function, ex vivo tissue engineering of brain, pituitary, ovaries, lungs, intestines
Gilbert John
Assistant Dean for Research
College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Research Interests:
Study from a One Health lens biological, social, and physical science topics. Current research is the study of abandum uranium mines on the Navajo Nation. Specifically, to link psychosocial outcomes to microbial and chemical levels in livestock and water.
Casey M. Gries
Instructor
Dept of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology
Research Interests:
Molecular pathogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus, including biofilm formation, potassium transport, genetics, and central metabolism
External Advisory Board
Keith Crandall, GWU – Computational Biology
Thomas Metz, PNNL – Metabolomics/Mass Spectrometry
Shirley Luckhart, U Idaho – Vector borne disease/disease ecology