Message from the Chair

Welcome to the Department of Microbiology. We are very interested in virus-host interactions and understanding how viruses cause disease in humans. Our team is composed of virologists, structural virologists, viral immunologists, and vaccinologists who work together in a highly collaborative environment.  We aim to actively recruit graduate students, Master of Biomedical Science, PhD and MD-PhD students, as well as postdoctoral fellows and faculty members who share our passion for understanding how pathogens interact with the host and how to design vaccines and treatments for human diseases.

Our team of researchers have made seminal contributions that have helped design novel vaccines and treatments and have facilitated diagnostics for important epidemics and pandemics. Our expertise ranges from respiratory viruses, such as influenza virus, SARS-CoV-2, and Nipah virus to viruses such as human immunodeficiency virus, human cytomegalovirus, hepatitis C virus, and Ebola virus, as well as mosquito-transmitted viruses, such as West Nile, yellow fever, chikungunya, and dengue. While we place a strong focus on virology, we are also very open to recruiting researchers in complementary disciplines of microbiology.

Our mission and vision is to prepare for future epidemics and pandemics, with a new focus on threads related to climate change and other factors in the context of One Health. With that in mind, we are actively recruiting faculty in the area of arthropod borne viruses (arboviruses) to expand our team with additional expertise aimed to fight pathogens that affect tropical and subtropical areas of the world. These areas, and viruses, are rapidly expanding, partly due to climate change.

The Microbiology Department contains more than 35 graduate students working toward their MS, PhD, and MD-PhD degrees and, together with our 42 postdoctoral fellows, participate in multiple activities, such as seminars and journal clubs. This diverse and inclusive environment fosters intra- and interdepartmental collaborations and interactions. We have numerous ongoing interactions and collaborations within the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, including the Department of Medicine, the Division of Infectious Diseases, the Precision Immunology Institute, the Center for Inborn Errors of Immunity, the Departments of Pathology, Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Oncological Sciences, Pharmacological Sciences, and Neuroscience.

As Chair of the Department of Microbiology, I invite you to connect with us and to explore our research programs and teams.

Ana Fernandez-Sesma, PhD,
Chair of the Department of Microbiology at Icahn Mount Sinai