The University of Texas Medical School at Houston
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics

MMG Program Faculty

The faculty in the MMG program are dedicated to graduate education. They have won the top teaching awards from our graduate school, including the Paul E. Darlington Award for Outstanding Mentoring and the John P. McGovern Teaching Award. In addition, they carry out internationally recognized research in the following areas:

Peter J. Christie, Ph.D. macromolecular transport processes during pathogenesis
William Dowhan, Ph.D. structure, function, and assembly of cell membranes
Danielle Garsin, Ph.D. C. elegans as a model host for understanding the genetics of bacterial infection
Millicent Goldschmidt, Ph.D. oral, clinical and medical microbiology
Magnus Hook, Ph.D. biology of the extracellular matrix; adhesion and microbial virulence
Heidi Kaplan, Ph.D. cell-cell interactions required for multicellular development and biofilm formation
Theresa M. Koehler, Ph.D. Bacillus cereus group species: genetics, physiology, and host interactions
Ziyin Li, Ph.D. cell cycle regulation in trypanosomes
Jun Liu, Ph.D. 3-D structure/function of nano-machines in situ. AIDS virus viral entry and antibody neutralization. Lyme-disease spirochete flagellar motor
Michael C. Lorenz, Ph.D. understanding the molecular basis of fungal infections
William Margolin, Ph.D. targeting and assembly of the bacterial cell division complex
Greg May, Ph.D. unconventional myosin function in Aspergillus and fungal pathogenesis
Kevin A. Morano, Ph.D. protein chaperones and stress response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Barbara Murray, M.D. enterococcal virulence and antibiotic resistance in human infections
Steven Norris, Ph.D. pathogenesis and its relationship to the molecular genetics of pathogenic bacteria
John Spudich, Ph.D. structure and function of photoactive membrane proteins and signal transduction triggered by light
Hung Ton-That, Ph.D. pilus assembly of Gram-positive pathogens, host-pathogen interactions, and bacterial pathogenesis
Ambro van Hoof, Ph.D. mRNA degradation and quality control of gene expression in eukaryotes
Yi Xu, Ph.D. bacterial pathogen and host interactions