Infectious Disease
CSU has a world class BSL – 3 facility on the Foothills Campus where researchers study M. tuberculosis, arthropod – borne viruses, prions and other pathogens requiring high level containment. The Foothills campus is adjacent to the Fort Collins branch of the Centers for Disease Control – Division of Vector-Borne Disease.
In addition, BSL2 level research on main campus focuses on retroviruses including HIV, picornaviruses and non – tuberculous mycobacteria. Biochemistry, replication and transmission of these types of pathogen are being investigated as well as the host’s response to infection.
Debbie Lee
Associate Professor (Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences)
Waterborne pathogens and human health; climate and foodborne/waterborne disease; impacts of water quality on the gut microbiome.
Elizabeth Hemming-Schroeder
Assistant Professor (Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology)
Our lab uses molecular and bioinformatic tools to study the ecology and epidemiology of malaria and other vector-borne diseases.
Raymond Goodrich
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology)
My work focuses on studying infectious diseases and cancer and developing ways to treat or prevent them using vaccines and immunological approaches.
Zaid Abdo
Associate Professor (Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology)
Studies the nature, composition, and function of microbial communities using computational tools.
Ramesh Akkina
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
HIV / AIDS pathogenesis, evolution, detection, prophylaxis and stem cell based gene therapies using RNAi, aptamers and CRISPR. Humanized mouse models for Zika and Dengue viruses.
John Belisle
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology)
Mycobacterial physiology and genetics. Lyme Disease.
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Brad Borlee
Associate Professor (Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology)
Regulation of bacterial pathogenesis in biofilm – associated infections. Therapeutic strategies to disrupt bacterial signaling systems.
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Chaoping Chen
Associate Professor (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)
Molecular and cell biology of retrovirus assembly and budding.
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Jean Chung
Assistant Professor (College of Natural Sciences)
Working to discover physical principles underlying biological processes through quantitative spectroscopic tools.
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Karen Dobos
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology)
Her lab primarily uses biochemical approaches to study the physiology of microbial diseases. While she and her team are most known for their work in biomarker discovery and systems biology for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, they also actively work and collaborate to address novel questions around pathogen inactivation, vector-mycobacteria intersections, and pathogen/vector cryopreservation.
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Debbie Crans
Professor (Chemistry)
Vanadium compounds as anti – mycobacterial drugs
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Dean Crick
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology)
Biochemistry and biogenesis of the cell wall and lipids of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Metabolomic studies of infected animals and bacilli.
Gregg Dean
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology)
Studies the specific applications including vaccines against human rotavirus, feline coronavirus (FECV) and SARS-CoV-2. Also studies the host mucosal immune response and immune mechanisms of multiple adjuvant strategies.
Steven Dow
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology and Clinical Sciences)
Innate immunity and the lung; bacterial pathogenesis; cancer immunology; vaccines.
Greg Ebel
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Interaction of arthropod – borne viruses with the mosquito host. Virus population biology.
Brian Foy
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Vectors and vector – borne pathogens including malaria and arboviruses.
Brian Geiss
Associate Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology
Molecular virology and biochemistry of arboviruses including RNA capping, and antiviral drug development.
Mercedes Gonzalez-Juarrero
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Host cell – mediated immune responses to mycobacterial infections
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Marcela Henao-Tamayo
Assistant Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Host – pathogen interactions during Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission, and the immunopathogenesis of mycobacterial infections.
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Olve Peersen
Professor (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology)
Structural and biophysical studies of viral polymerases and picornaviral replication complexes.
Rushika Perera
Associate Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Impact of cellular metabolism on Arbovirus replication within their vertebrate hosts and arthropod vectors.
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Eric Ross
Professor (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, PhD)
Mayo Graduate school
Yeast prions as a model for amyloid diseases and protein aggregation
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Elizabeth Ryan
Associate Professor (Environmental & Radiological Health Sciences)
Interactions between diet and cancer. Toxicology, immunology, oncology and nutrition.
Mark Stenglein
Assistant Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Virology. Computational Biology. Bioinformatics. Genomics. Virus discovery. Virus evolution.
Glenn Telling
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology)
Mechanism of prion replication, prion species barriers and strain diversity, and the molecular basis of inherited human prion diseases.
Jeff Wilusz
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Viral RNA metabolism
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Mark Zabel
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Prion immunology
Sarah Raabis
Assistant Professor (Clinical Sciences)
Dairy farm diagnostics
Amy MacNeill
Associate Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Poxviruses as anticancer agents.
Brooke Anderson
Associate Professor (ERHS)
Evaluating tuberculosis vaccine efficacy using computational tools.
Health risks associated with climate-related exposures
Michael Kirby
Professor (Mathematics)
Modeling of infection.
Michael Lyons
Assistant Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Mathematical and computational tools to better translate experimental studies to dose selection for clinical trials.
Candace Mathiason
Associate Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Prion and viral pathogenesis and transmission dynamics.
Sandra Quackenbush
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology)
Viral pathogenesis, particularly viral – induced oncogenesis.
Richard Slayden
Professor (Microbiology, Immunology Pathology)
Drug development and the discovery of preclinical lead compounds with efficacy against bacterial pathogens, such as M. tuberculosis, F. tularensis, B. pseudomallei and Y. pestis
MIP 520 Fundamentals of Prion Biology
MIP 525 Flow Cytometry for Immunology
MIP 533 Epidemiology of Infectious Disease
MIP 540 Biosafety in Research Laboratories
MIP 550 Microbial and Molecular Genetics Laboratory
MIP 555 Principles & Mechanisms of Disease
MIP 577 Computer Analysis in Population Genetics
MIP 578 Genetics of Natural Populations
MIP 580A5 Introduction to Biology of Disease Vectors
MIP 580A6 Biology of Arbovirus Vectors / Genetics
MIP 580A7 Biology of Parasite / Bacteria Vectors
MIP 580B1 Intro to Mechanisms of Bacterial Pathogenesis
MIP 580B2 Bacterial Pathogenesis – Mechanisms & Lifestyle
MIP 580B3 Bacterial Pathogenesis – Evading Host Defenses
MIP 581A5 Advanced Virology I: Fundamentals / New Insights
MIP 581A6 Advanced Virology II: Mechanisms of Viral Disease
MIP 581A7 Advanced Virology III: Discovery Tools and Control
MIP 612 Applied Immunology
MIP 630 Advances in Microbial Physiology
MIP 680A4 Fundamentals of Infectious Disease Immunity
MIP 680A5 Immunity to Viruses
MIP 680A6 Immunity to Bacteria and Parasites
MIP 700 Topics in Microbiology, Immunology & Pathology
Center for Vector Borne Infectious Diseases (CVID)
Mycobacteria Research Laboratories (MRL)
Prion Research Center (PRC)
Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (VDL)
Infectious Disease Research Center (IDRC) includes state of the art BSL3 research facilities
Bio-pharmaceutical Manufacturing & Academic Resource Center (BIOMARC) – a non – profit biologics Contract Development & Manufacturing Organization specializing in high containment (BSL2, BSL3, CDC Select Agents)
Infectious Disease Research and Response Network (IDR2N) – a Program of Research and Scholarly Excellence which addresses local, national and international needs for infectious disease control and prevention
Reed Woyda (Abdo Lab)
qCMB NIH T32 Fellowship 2019-20
USDA ORISE Fellow 2019 – 20
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Julie Sun (Telling Lab)
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Lexi Keene (Stenglein Lab)
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Gaby Ramirez (Perera Lab)
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Pablo Maldonado (Henao-Tama Lab)
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Ryan Jeep 
(Chen Lab)
Zohaib Ali (Gonzalez-Juarrero Lab)
Fulbright Scholar (Pakistan)
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Noelia Altina (Wilusz Lab)
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Zeyad Arhouma (Crans Lab)
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Camron Pearce (Gonzalez-Juarrero Lab)
Cancer Biology & Comparative Oncology PRSE 2020-2021 Fellowship
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James Curlin (Post Doctoral Fellow, Akkina Lab, PhD 2021)
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Kaitlin Doucette 
(Crans Lab, PhD 2021)
Post-doctoral Fellow, Shu Lab, UC-San Francisco
GAANN Teaching Fellow
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Erin Lynch (Geiss Lab, MS 2019)
Virtual Account Manager at Sartorius
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Kelly Hassell (Crans Lab, PhD 2020)
GAANN Teaching Fellow
Development Consultant at Indivior
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Fabio Fontes (Crick Lab)
Data Analyst at World Panel by Kantar
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Tom Bickett (PhD 2019, Izzo Lab) – Senior Scientist at Immunity Bio
Vanessa Selwyn (PhD 2019, Telling Lab) – Graduate Program Grant Coordinator, CVMBS, Colorado State University
Cary Mundell (MS 2019, J. Wilusz Lab)- Biologist at USDA Fort Collins
Tavo Ontiveros (MS 2019, J. Wilusz Lab) -Research Scientist, Bristol Myers Squibb
Stephanie Morphet (PhD 2018, Belisle Lab) Post – doctoral researcher, SiVEC Biotech
Jessie Filer (PhD 2018, Geiss Lab) – Medical Writer at ProEd Communications
Sarah Kane (PhD 2017, Zabel Lab) – Scientist II , GT Molecular , Fort Collins
Paige Charlins (PhD 2017, Akkina Lab) – Analyst, Proactive Worldwide Ltd
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1.
Mimicking SIV chimpanzee viral evolution toward HIV-1 during cross-species transmission. Schmitt K, Curlin J, Remling-Mulder L, Moriarty R, Goff K, O’Connor S, Stenglein M, Marx P, Akkina R. J Med Primatol. 2020 Oct;49(5):284-287. doi: 10.1111/jmp.12485. Epub 2020 Aug 17. PMID: 33460210 Free PMC article.
2.
Evolution of SIVsm in humanized mice towards HIV-2. Curlin J, Schmitt K, Remling-Mulder L, Moriarty R, Goff K, O’Connor S, Stenglein M, Marx P, Akkina R. J Med Primatol. 2020 Oct;49(5):280-283. doi: 10.1111/jmp.12486. Epub 2020 Aug 10. PMID: 32777101 Free PMC article.
3.
The Interfacial Interactions of Glycine and Short Glycine Peptides in Model Membrane Systems. Doucette KA, Chaiyasit P, Calkins DL, Martinez KN, Van Cleave C, Knebel CA, Tongraar A, Crans DC. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Dec 26;22(1):162. doi: 10.3390/ijms22010162. PMID: 33375246 Free PMC article.
4.
PtIV– or MoVI-substituted decavanadates inhibit the growth of Mycobacterium smegmatis. Kostenkova K, Arhouma Z, Postal K, Rajan A, Kortz U, Nunes GG, Crick DC, Crans DC. J Inorg Biochem. 2021 Apr;217:111356. doi: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2021.111356. Epub 2021 Jan 19. PMID: 33582396
5.
In Silico/In Vitro Hit-to-Lead Methodology Yields SMYD3 Inhibitor That Eliminates Unrestrained Proliferation of Breast Carcinoma Cells. Alshiraihi IM, Jarrell DK, Arhouma Z, Hassell KN, Montgomery J, Padilla A, Ibrahim HM, Crans DC, Kato TA, Brown MA. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Dec 15;21(24):9549. doi: 10.3390/ijms21249549. PMID: 33333978 Free PMC article.
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Mycobacterium leprae Infection in a Wild Nine-Banded Armadillo, Nuevo León, Mexico. Vera-Cabrera L, Ramos-Cavazos CJ, Youssef NA, Pearce CM, Molina-Torres CA, Avalos-Ramirez R, Gagneux S, Ocampo-Candiani J, Gonzalez-Juarrero M, Mayorga-Rodriguez JA, Mayorga-Garibaldi L, Spencer JS, Jackson M, Avanzi C. Emerg Infect Dis. 2022 Mar;28(3):747-749. doi: 10.3201/eid2803.211295. PMID: 35202538 Free PMC article.
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Preclinical Evaluation of Inhalational Spectinamide-1599 Therapy against Tuberculosis. Gonzalez-Juarrero M, Lukka PB, Wagh S, Walz A, Arab J, Pearce C, Ali Z, Ryman JT, Parmar K, Temrikar Z, Munoz-Gutierrez J, Robertson GT, Liu J, Lenaerts AJ, Daley C, Lee RE, Braunstein M, Hickey AJ, Meibohm B. ACS Infect Dis. 2021 Oct 8;7(10):2850-2863. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.1c00213. Epub 2021 Sep 21. PMID: 34546724
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Inhaled tigecycline is effective against Mycobacterium abscessus in vitro and in vivo. Pearce C, Ruth MM, Pennings LJ, Wertheim HFL, Walz A, Hoefsloot W, Ruesen C, Muñoz Gutiérrez J, Gonzalez-Juarrero M, van Ingen J. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2020 Jul 1;75(7):1889-1894. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkaa110. PMID: 32294173 Free PMC article.
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Horizontal Gene Transfer Is the Main Driver of Antimicrobial Resistance in Broiler Chicks Infected with Salmonella enterica Serovar Heidelberg. Oladeinde A, Abdo Z, Press MO, Cook K, Cox NA, Zwirzitz B, Woyda R, Lakin SM, Thomas JC 4th, Looft T, Cosby DE, Hinton A Jr, Guard J, Line E, Rothrock MJ, Berrang ME, Herrington K, Zock G, Plumblee Lawrence J, Cudnik D, House S, Ingram K, Lariscy L, Wagner M, Aggrey SE, Chai L, Ritz C. mSystems. 2021 Aug 31;6(4):e0072921. doi: 10.1128/mSystems.00729-21. Epub 2021 Aug 24. PMID: 34427525 Free PMC article.
10.
Coupled small molecules target RNA interference and JAK/STAT signaling to reduce Zika virus infection in Aedes aegypti. Trammell CE, Ramirez G, Sanchez-Vargas I, St Clair LA, Ratnayake OC, Luckhart S, Perera R, Goodman AG. PLoS Pathog. 2022 Apr 4;18(4):e1010411. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010411. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35377915
11.
Acyl-Coa Thioesterases: A Rheostat That Controls Activated Fatty Acids Modulates Dengue Virus Serotype 2 Replication. St Clair LA, Mills SA, Lian E, Soma PS, Nag A, Montgomery C, Ramirez G, Chotiwan N, Gullberg RC, Perera R. Viruses. 2022 Jan 25;14(2):240. doi: 10.3390/v14020240. PMID: 35215835 Free PMC article.
12.
Adaptive selection of a prion strain conformer corresponding to established North American CWD during propagation of novel emergent Norwegian strains in mice expressing elk or deer prion protein. Bian J, Kim S, Kane SJ, Crowell J, Sun JL, Christiansen J, Saijo E, Moreno JA, DiLisio J, Burnett E, Pritzkow S, Gorski D, Soto C, Kreeger TJ, Balachandran A, Mitchell G, Miller MW, Nonno R, Vikøren T, Våge J, Madslien K, Tran L, Vuong TT, Benestad SL, Telling GC. PLoS Pathog. 2021 Jul 26;17(7):e1009748. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009748. eCollection 2021 Jul. PMID: 34310663 Free PMC article.