Immunology & Infectious Disease

Immunology is the study of how animals react to foreign substances such as infectious agents and allergens. The host immune system consists of hundreds of molecules, cells, and lymphoid organs such as the bone marrow and spleen. Because we live in a sea of microbes, the immune system is constantly engaged in a battle that prevents microbes from invading and consuming the cells of our bodies. Immunology research at MSU focuses on improving our basic understanding of how the host immune system functions, such that new approaches can be developed to vaccinate against a broader spectrum of infectious diseases in people and animals, and so that new approaches can be developed to prevent detrimental immune responses such as asthma or organ transplant rejection.

Infectious diseases of humans and animals are caused by a wide spectrum of microorganisms including single-cell bacteria, multicellular parasites, viruses or infectious proteins known as ‘prions’ (i.e., causative agent of ‘mad cow disease’). Infectious disease research at MSU focuses on understanding the biology of each specific group of infectious agents and learning how these specific microbes produce disease when infections are established in people or animals.