Chaired by Professor Samuel Kaplan, the Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics resides in The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Medical School. We are located in the Texas Medical Center, the world’s largest and most dynamic research center.

MODERN MICROBIOLOGY RESEARCH.
We have assembled an impressive faculty, and continue to recruit excellent scientists. Research in the department employs microorganisms to address fundamental questions of molecular genetics and cell biology and to determine mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis in infectious diseases of humans.

The department provides state-of-the-art facilities and equipment required for research in microbiology, molecular biology, and genetics. Individual research laboratories are bridged by equipment rooms containing critical shared resources such as scintillation and gamma counters, centrifuges, dark rooms, incubators, etc. The department maintains its own research library with a variety of scientific journals and textbooks. In addition, all major journals are accessible online from anywhere in the Texas Medical Center.

The department includes a molecular genetics core facility, which provides automated DNA sequencing and a state-of-the-art BIAcore system for the study of real-time molecular interactions. Other core facilities include a fluorescence microscopy facility, multiple imaging workstations for gel documentation and the analysis of luminescent and radioactive emissions, and a computer suite equipped with both PC and Mac platforms and high-end scanners and printers to facilitate data presentation.

GRADUATE AND MEDICAL EDUCATION
Our department forms the core of the Graduate Program in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. Our department is also responsible for the medical microbiology course taken by first-year medical students during the spring semester. This course is a comprehensive survey of microorganisms, emphasizing pathogenic microorganisms that infect humans.

For both graduate and medical education, our department bolsters its already strong teaching base with additional faculty from other departments and institutions within the Texas Medical Center. These faculty include cross and adjunct appointments from biochemistry, pathology, infectious diseases (a division of internal medicine), dermatology and molecular genetics, and molecular pathology (M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Baylor College of Medicine), biochemistry, biophysics, and extracellular matrix biology (Texas A&M Institute of Molecular Medicine).

UT-Houston Medical School • Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
6431 Fannin Street • Houston, Texas 77030 or P.O. Box 20708 • Houston, Texas 77225
Phone: 713-500-5500 • Fax: 713-500-5499 • Email: microbiology@uth.tmc.edu

last updated October 18, 2006 by webmaster