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

Neil Ferguson

Imperial College London, United Kingdom

Neil Ferguson is Head of the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at Imperial College London, where he leads the MRC Centre for Outbreak Analysis and Modelling. His research aims to improve the understanding of epidemiological factors and population processes that shape infectious disease spread in human and animal populations. A practical focus of his work is the analysis and optimisation of intervention strategies that are aimed at reducing transmission or disease burden.

Expertise
Epidemiology and Global Health
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
epidemiology and infectious disease
emerging infections
mosquito-borne infections
statistical and mathematical tools
Eduardo Franco

McGill University, Canada

Eduardo Franco is Professor and Chairman, Department of Oncology, and Director, Division of Cancer Epidemiology, McGill University, Montreal. He holds BSc (1975) and Licentiate (1976) degrees in biology from Universidade de Campinas, Brazil, and master's (MPH) and doctoral (DrPH) degrees in public health microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1981-84). He was a Guest Researcher at the US Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta (1980-81 and 1983-84), and a post-doctoral fellow in cancer epidemiology during 1984 at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France, at the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, and at Louisiana State University, in New Orleans. Since 1985, he has conducted epidemiologic research on the causes of cancer and on the means to prevent it or to improve patient survival. He is mostly known for his contributions to our understanding of human papillomavirus infection as the cause of cervical cancer and using this knowledge to prevent this cancer via vaccination and improved screening strategies. He received the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance’s Distinguished Service to Cancer Research Award, Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology and from the International Papillomavirus Society, the Women in US Government’s Leadership Award, the Canadian Cancer Society’s Warwick Prize, the Geoffrey Howe Outstanding Contribution Award from the Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, the University of British Columbia’s Chew Wei Memorial Prize in Cancer Research, and the McLaughlin-Gallie Award from the Royal College of Physicians of Canada. He has mentored 115 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, and 30 undergraduate trainees. He is Officer of the Order of Canada and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. Heholds an honorary doctorate from Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal.

Expertise
Epidemiology and Global Health
Cancer Biology
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
molecular epidemiology and prevention of cervical cancer and human papillomavirus-associated diseases
cancers of the upper aero-digestive tract
prostate, endometrium, and childhood tumours
efficacy of cancer screening strategies
the impact of measurement error in epidemiology
societal and clinical influences on cancer patient survival

Competing interests statement
Entire research program funded by the Medical Research Council of Canada (until 1999), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) (1999-present), National Institutes of Health, Canadian Cancer Society, and Cancer Research Society. He has received salary awards from the Fonds de Recherche Quebec Santé and CIHR. He holds a James McGill Professorship and the Minda de Gunzburg Endowed Chair at McGill University. He serves as Editor-in-Chief for Preventive Medicine and Preventive Medicine Reports and serves on the editorial boards of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, International Journal of Cancer, Papillomavirus Research, and Salud Publica de Mexico. He has served as occasional consultant to companies involved with HPV vaccination (Merck and GSK) and HPV diagnostics (Roche, Abbott, Qiagen, and BD).
Wendy S Garrett

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, United States

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

Saint Michael's Hospital, Canada

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

National Institute of Biological Sciences, China

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

Experimental organism
human
mouse
viruses

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–).
Michel C Nussenzweig

The Rockefeller University, United States

Michel Nussenzweig is the Zanvil A Cohn and Ralph Steinman Professor of Molecular Immunology and a Senior Physician at the Rockefeller University Hospital. Since 1990 he has been an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr Nussenzweig obtained his PhD working with Dr Ralph Steinman on the role of Dendritic Cells in initiating immunity. He received his MD degree from New York University Medical School and trained in Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the Massachusetts General Hospital. As a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr Philip Leder in the Deparment of Genetics at Harvard Medical School he became interested in the development of antibody producing B lymphocytes. Dr Nussenzweig’s current research is focused on understanding the development of humoral immune responses. His laboratory uses molecular biology, mouse genetics, and perfoms experimental medicine studies in human volunteers to elucidate basic principles in immunology and medicine. Dr Nussenzweig was elected to the US National Academy of Medicine in 2009 and the US National Academy of Sciences in 2011.

Expertise
Immunology and Inflammation
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
adaptive immunity
innate immunity
HIV
dendritic cells

Experimental organism
mouse

Competing interests statement
Michel Nussenzweig has received funding from the Howard Hughes Insititute, the US National Institutes of Health, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Roberston Fund at Rockefeller University. He is an editor of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, and the Journal of Immunological Methods. He is on the scientific advisory board of Celldex Therapeutics.
Gisela Storz

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, United States

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

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
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
Jon Clardy

Harvard Medical School, United States

Expertise
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology
Ecology
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
microbial secondary metabolism
chemical communications
biosynthesis
chemical biology
microbial chemical ecology
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
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
Sophie Helaine

Imperial College London, United Kingdom

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
Host pathogen interaction
bacterial pathogenesis
persistence
antibiotic persisters
toxin-antitoxin systems

Experimental organism
Salmonella
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
Frank Kirchhoff

Ulm University Medical Center, Germany

Expertise
Epidemiology and Global Health
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
functional virology
origin, evolution and pathogenicity of HIV-1
HIV
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 cell cycle
bacterial systems biology
signal transduction
protein evolution
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
Jeremy Luban

University of Massachusetts Medical School, United States

Expertise
Immunology and Inflammation
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
viral replication
pathogenesis
immunity
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
Phil Newmark

Morgridge Institute for Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States

Expertise
Developmental Biology
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
Planarian
regeneration
Schistosoma
germ cells
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
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
Julie Overbaugh

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, United States

Expertise
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
virology
mechanisms of viral pathogenesis
vaccines
HIV/AIDS
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
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
Thomas Scriba

University of Cape Town, South Africa

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

Research focus
tuberculosis
immunology
vaccination
biomarkers
T cells
clinical trials
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 School of Medicine, United States

Expertise
Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Biochemistry and Chemical Biology

Research focus
virus-host interactions
retroviruses
HIV

Experimental organism
human
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
Blake Wiedenheft

Montana State University, United States

Expertise
Chromosomes and Gene Expression
Microbiology and Infectious Disease

Research focus
bacteriophages
genome editing
host-parasite interactions