The PhD program in Immunology and Microbiology is defined as a program of advanced multidisciplinary studies focused on immunology in its broadest aspects and on viral and bacterial microbiology and its relationship with the host. The Program is based on the need to generate new knowledge that contributes to advance in the search for answers to understand the complex problems of the biology of virus infection with emphasis on their entry into cells; the factors that lead to pathogenesis induced by human viruses and the development of therapeutic and preventive antiviral strategies; the interrelationships between neuroimmunology and neurophysiology, including the role of the microbiota in the brain-gut axis in the regulation of immune function; and the process of immune regulation focusing on the processes that enable homeostasis or loss of regulation leading to autoimmune pathologies or tumor development.

The Program places special emphasis on interdisciplinarity and application to human health problems and also offers the possibility of interacting and carrying out their theses in the research laboratories of the Science & Life Foundation or one of the biotechnology companies located on our Campus. During their time in the Program, students will acquire skills to reason critically, identify important questions in the most basic aspects of the disciplines as well as in their medical and environmental applications, read critically the scientific literature, communicate and present effectively their own findings and ideas, and insert themselves in the academia, as well as in the private and public sector.

The research topics of the PhD program in Immunology and Microbiology are the following:

Neuroimmunology and Neurodegeneration.
Antitumor Immunity
Autoimmunity
Microbiota and Immunity Relationship
Virology and Virus-Host Interactions
Epigenetics and Cell Regulation
Inflammation and Muscular Dystrophy
Microbial Ecophysiology and Genomics
Protein Trafficking and Signaling in Cancer