Specialized graduate-level courses are offered to cover the molecular aspects of bacteriology, genetics, immunology, virology, mycology and parasitology. A National Institutes of Health training grant supports predoctoral students and postdoctoral fellows studying the molecular aspects of microbial pathogenesis. Concepts important to understanding microbiology and immunology as components of human disease are covered in a problem-based education approach. Pathology and Anatomical Sciences Pathology and the anatomical sciences bridge the basic sciences and clinical medicine. Pathology deals with all aspects of human disease while anatomical sciences are concerned with understanding the structural and functional relationships of the body's organ systems.
Faculty study a wide range of research topics.
In clinical pathology, these topics include the immunopathology of infectious disease, identification of tumor suppressor genes and their inactivation, etiologic factors in transfusion-transmitted diseases and the roles of platelet membrane glycoprotein in platelet function. Applied research in the field of immunology and transfusion medicine include vaccine development and production of universally transfusable blood products. In anatomical sciences, areas of study include fetal alcohol exposure as it influences development of the brain, studies of the opossum as an animal model for research and collaborative studies on urogualylin, a natriuretic peptide. The staff in the Anatomic-Pathology Laboratory processes 15,000 surgical specimens each year, performs 680 postmortem exams and reviews 19,300 cytology specimens. Department laboratories are fully equipped to apply the techniques of pharmacology, physiology, biochemistry, chemistry and molecular biology to research projects.