Editors for Microbiology and Infectious Disease

We aim to publish studies that provide new insights into fundamental mechanisms, and cell growth and metabolism, in all microbes. We also welcome studies of all types of interactions between microorganisms in communities and between microbes and multicellular organisms, in both pathogenic and commensal interactions, including but not limited to investigations into the microbiome, microbial ecology, mycology, pathology, parasitology, and virology. Read the latest research in this subject area.

Type

All sections

Senior editors

Wendy S Garrett

Senior Editor

Wendy Garrett is the Melvin J and Geraldine L. Glimcher Associate Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute. Her work explores host-microbiota interactions underlying mucosal immune homeostasis, gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders, and cancer. She graduated from the Yale College; received her MD PhD from Yale University and completed post-graduate training at Harvard.

Expertise
Immunology and Inflammation
Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
host-microbiota interactions
microbiome
mucosal immunology

Competing interests statement
Wendy Garrett receives funding from the National Institutes of Health, Hoffman-LaRoche, and Groupe Danone. She is a member of the Cell Reports and Journal of Clinical Microbiology editorial boards. She consults for Janssen and serves on the scientific advisory boards of Synlogic and Evelo Biosciences.
Prabhat Jha

Senior Editor

Prabhat Jha has been a key figure in epidemiology and economics of global health for the past decade. He is the University of Toronto Endowed Professor in Disease Control and Canada Research Chair at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and the founding Director of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. Professor Jha is a lead investigator of the Million Death Study in India, which quantifies the causes of premature mortality in over one million homes from 1997–2014 and which examines the contribution of key risk factors such as tobacco, alcohol, diet, and environmental exposures. He is co-investigator of the Disease Control Priorities Network and the author of several influential books on tobacco control, including two that helped enable a global treaty on tobacco control, now signed by over 160 countries. Prior to founding CGHR, Professor Jha served as Senior Scientist for the World Health Organization, where he co-led the work on health and poverty for the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health. Earlier, he headed the World Bank team responsible for developing the Second National HIV/AIDS Control Program in India. His advisory work has included the Government of South Africa on its national health insurance plan, and the United States Institute of Medicine on global health. Notable recognitions include the Order of Canada (2013) for contributions to global health, the Luther Terry Award for Research on Tobacco Control (2012), The Globe and Mail 25 Transformational Canadians (2010), Top 40 Canadians under Age 40 Award (2004), the Ontario Premier’s Research Excellence Award (2004), and Gold Medal from the Poland Health Promotion Foundation (2000). Professor Jha holds an MD from the University of Manitoba and a DPhil from Oxford University, where he studied as a Canadian Rhodes Scholar.

Expertise
Epidemiology and Global Health
Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
epidemiology
global health
infectious disease and population dynamics
randomized controlled trials

Competing interests statement
Prabhat Jha has received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Canadian International Development Research Agency, Canadian International Development Agency, the International Science and Technology Program of the Canadian government, and the US National Institutes of Health. He serves on the editorial board of Demography India. He advises several agencies and the Canadian government on epidemiology, disease control strategies, and tobacco control, and serves on the advisory board of the UK Biobank.
Wenhui Li

Senior Editor

Wenhui Li is an Investigator of the National Institute of Biological Sciences (NIBS), Beijing, China. He received a bachelor’s degree in medicine from the Medical School of Lanzhou University in 1994 and his PhD from the Peking Union Medical College & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences in 2001. After completing his postdoctoral studies at Harvard Medical School, Li joined NIBS as an Assistant Investigator in 2007 and rose to the rank of Investigator in 2015. His team at NIBS identified a liver bile acids transporter (sodium taurocholate co-transporting polypeptide, NTCP) as a functional receptor for Hepatitis B and D virus. Li’s research interest has been focusing on the molecular mechanisms of viral infections: currently his laboratory combines virology, biochemistry, immunology, and chemical biology to investigate molecular mechanisms of HBV/HDV infection.

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
virus infection
hepatitis b/d virus
receptor
antivirals

Competing interests statement
Wenhui Li receives funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology, National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Science and Technology Bureau of Beijing Municipal Government. He serves as a member of the editorial boards of Chin J Virol (2011–), Virologica Sinica (2013–), and J Biol Chem (2016–).
Gisela Storz

Senior Editor

Gisela Storz has been an Investigator in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Institute of Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, Maryland since 1991. She obtained a BA in Biochemistry from the University of Colorado in 1984 and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1988, where she studied the bacterial response to oxidative stress working with Bruce Ames. Her current work is focused on understanding gene regulation in response to environmental signals and elucidating the roles of small RNAs and small proteins of less than 50 amino acids in these regulatory networks. Dr. Storz was the recipient of the American Society for Microbiology Eli Lilly Award and is a member of the American Academy of Microbiology, American Academy of Arts and Sciences and US National Academy of Sciences.

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Chromosomes and Gene Expression

Research focus
small noncoding RNAs
oxidative stress
gene regulation
bacterial physiology
regulatory RNAs

Experimental organism
E. coli

Competing interests statement
Gisela Storz is employed by the Intramural Program of the National Institutes of Health. She served on the Scientific Advisory Board of Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology. In addition to being a Senior Editor for eLife, she is an Editor at RNA and on the Editorial Boards of mBio, Annual Reviews of Genetics and Microbiology Spectrum.

Reviewing editors

Paul Rainey

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Germany

Expertise
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Plant Biology

Research focus
adaptive radiation
evolution of individuality
evolutionary genetics
ecological genetics
emergence of infectious diseases
Phil Newmark

Morgridge Institute for Research, United States

Expertise
Developmental Biology
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
Planarian
regeneration
Schistosoma
germ cells
Christine Clayton

Zentrum fuer Molekulare Biologie der Universitaet Heidelberg (ZMBH), Germany

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Human Biology and Medicine

Research focus
trypanosomes
mRNA degradation
RNA-binding proteins
Kim Orth

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, United States

Expertise
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
Virulence factors
Type III secretion
pathogenesis
autophagy

Experimental organism
Vibrio spp
Blake Wiedenheft

Montana State University, United States

Expertise
Chromosomes and Gene Expression
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
bacteriophages
genome editing
host-parasite interactions
Flaminia Catteruccia

Harvard School of Public Health, United States

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
vector biology
malaria
vector-plasmodium interactions
reproductive biology

Experimental organism
anopheles gambiae
Kevin Verstrepen

KU Leuven, Belgium

Expertise
Evolutionary Biology
Genetics and Genomics
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
genomics
systems biology
yeast genetics

Experimental organism
S. cerevisiae
Axel A Brakhage

Friedrich Schiller University Jena and Hans-Knöll-Institut, Germany

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
infection biology of fungi
microbial secondary metabolism
microbial communication
biotechnology
transcription factors

Experimental organism
aspergillus
myxococcus xanthus
macrophages
neutrophils
Jon Clardy

Harvard Medical School, United States

Expertise
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Ecology
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
microbial secondary metabolism
chemical communications
biosensors
chemical biology
microbial ecology and evolution
Eduardo Franco

McGill University, Canada

Expertise
Cancer Biology
Epidemiology and Global Health
Human Biology and Medicine
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
human biology and medicine
microbiology and infectious disease
cancer epidemiology and prevention
screening
human papillomavirus infection
Stephen P Goff

Columbia University, United States

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
retrovirus replication
virus assembly
Jean Greenberg

University of Chicago, United States

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Plant Biology

Research focus
local and long distance signalling in innate immunity
plant-microbe interactions
bacterial pathogens

Experimental organism
arabidopsis thaliana
N. benthamiana
tomato
pseudomonas
Peter Greenberg

University of Washington, United States

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
microbe-microbe communication
Mark Jit

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and Public Health England, United Kingdom

Expertise
Epidemiology and Global Health
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
immunisation
health economics
mathematical modelling of infectious diseases
Bavesh Kana

University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
tuberculosis
differentially culturable bacteria
mycobacteria
actinobacteria
cell wall
peptidoglycan
peptidoglycan hydrolases
amidase
cell division
cell surface remodelling
dormancy
latency

Experimental organism
mycobacterium tuberculosis
mycobacterium smegmatis
Karla Kirkegaard

Stanford University School of Medicine, United States

Expertise
Chromosomes and Gene Expression
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
drug resistance
viral evolution
dominant genes

Experimental organism
human
mouse
viruses
David M Knipe

Harvard Medical School, United States

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
DNA viruses
epigenetic regulation
latent infection
innate and intrinsic immunity
vaccines
Urszula Krzych

Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, United States

Expertise
Epidemiology and Global Health
Immunology and Inflammation
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
malaria
adaptive immunity
vaccines
Michael Laub

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States

Expertise
Cell Biology
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
bacterial development
bacterial systems biology
signal transduction
Elena Levashina

Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
malaria ecology
mosquito immune system

Experimental organism
P. falciparum
Marc Lipsitch

Harvard School of Public Health, United States

Expertise
Epidemiology and Global Health
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
mathematical modeling
evolution of pathogens
epidemiology of infectious diseases

Experimental organism
streptococcus pneumoniae
Tam Mignot

Aix-Marseille University, France

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Physics of Living Systems

Research focus
signal transduction
motility
bacterial development
bacterial cell biology

Experimental organism
myxococcus xanthus
Dianne Newman

California Institute of Technology, United States

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
evolution of photosynthesis
physiological functions of redox active "secondary metabolites"

Experimental organism
R. palustris
P. aeruginosa
Thorsten Nurnberger

University of Tübingen, Germany

Expertise
Cell Biology
Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Plant Biology

Research focus
innate immunity
plant-microbe interactions
plant immunity

Experimental organism
arabidopsis thaliana
Madhukar Pai

McGill University, Canada

Expertise
Epidemiology and Global Health
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
tuberculosis
epidemiology
public health
global health
Antonis Rokas

Vanderbilt University, United States

Expertise
Evolutionary Biology
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
phylogenomics
genome evolution in fungi and animals
evolution of fungal secondary/specialized metabolic pathways
evolution of mammalian pregnancy

Experimental organism
fungi
Viviana Simon

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, United States

Expertise
Epidemiology and Global Health
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
viral-host interactions
retroviral restriction factors
HIV drug resistance
Dominique Soldati-Favre

University of Geneva, Switzerland

Expertise
Human Biology and Medicine
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
host-parasite interactions
apicomplexa biology
motility

Experimental organism
toxoplasma gondii
plasmodium
Wesley Sundquist

University of Utah, United States

Expertise
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
virus-host interactions
retroviruses
HIV

Experimental organism
human cells