Fighting infectious disease in a therapeutically relevant fashion requires:
- a thorough understanding of microbial virulence factors,
- knowledge of how these factors contribute to the disease process, and
- insight into how they impact the host immunological/inflammatory response in defining clinical outcome
Achieving this understanding provides a perfect opportunity for clinically relevant translational research and is the overriding theme of the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Host Inflammatory Responses (CMPHIR). The key element is to bring together promising young investigators, each under the mentorship of established senior faculty, whose research is consistent with this scientific theme.