| EVMS Dept. of Microbiology & Molecular Cell Biology |
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A statement from Edward M. Johnson, Ph.D. Chairman, Department of Microbiology andMolecular Cell Biology Distinguished Foundation Professor of Biomedical Sciences Microbiology and molecular cell biology are interlocking fields that seek to understand diseases at a molecular level in order to ultimately devise therapeutics. Microbiology deals primarily with microbes, i.e., viruses, bacteria and parasites, and also with the immune responses that combat them. Microbiology is an extremely exciting field at present due in part to the recent discovery of several new viruses and to the discovery of new capabilities of the immune system. Molecular cell biology is aimed at how normal and diseased cells function at the level of chemical interactions. Molecular cell biology thus deals with the three primary macromolecules of life: DNA, RNA and proteins. Each of these fields has adapted many techniques from the other, and research in this department integrates them in a unique way. For example, several viruses, some under study in the department, have now been implicated in human cancer, as of course is the immune system. Cancer biology is important for understanding all biology and is an emphasis of this department. Nerve cells in the brain are uniquely affected by several viruses and by the inflammatory immune responses to them. Neurovirology, neuroimmunology and neuro-AIDS also receive major emphasis in this department. Immunology also affects cardiovascular biology, and this is yet another important component of the department.
The Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology is home to three major disease research centers: The Virginia Prostate Center, the George L. Wright Center for Proteomics and the Center for Cancer and Infectious Disease. These centers complement not only this department, but also research in many other departments at EVMS.
Sincerely, |