News and Announcements
The annual Golden Apple Awards recognize outstanding service, teaching and mentoring by Drexel University College of Medicine faculty and professional staff. The honorees are nominated by each class of medical students who vote to determine the award winners. Read more.
Dean’s Travel Award
Congratulations to Abhishek Rao, recipient of the Dean’s Travel Award for the spring 2024 award cycle. Rao is a PhD candidate in the Microbiology & Immunology program. The Dean’s Travel Award is meant to partially defray the cost of attending a scientific meeting at which a graduate student is making a presentation, that is related to the student’s graduate study. In this cycle, each award was offered at the maximum of $750.00 per awardee.
Drexel University and Thomas Jefferson University are longtime allies in the fight against cancer. That partnership was formalized in 2013 as the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (SKCC) Research Consortium, a relationship that was reinvigorated in 2021, in preparation for the center’s application to be named a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center. Read more. (Pulse Spring 2024)
Alumni News
Congratulations to MS in Biomedicine and Business alumna Hilary Schultz, for being featured in the Top 100 Innovators & Entrepreneurs magazine as their cover story.
IIE Honors 2022: IIE Scholar Rescue Fund featuring Dr. Helen Kimbi and Hartley R. Rogers
An educational game designed by a team from the Institute for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Disease at Drexel University College of Medicine recently took home a silver medal from the International Serious Play Awards competition in Toronto, Canada. Read more.
ILADEF Neil Spector Award
ILADEF Neil Spector Award was presented to PhD candidate Ben Hasland-Gurley at the 2023 ILADS scientific conference. This award is given to the best scientific presentation of the conference. Ben presented two talks: Immunoglobulin N-Glycans Role in Diagnosing Lyme Disease and Immunoglobulins N-glycans Impare Host Response to Lyme Disease. Ben’s win is the second consecutive win for a Drexel Microbiology & Immunology program. Graduate student Kayla Socarras was awarded the honor in 2022. Prior to the past two years, awardees have been senior investigators with international reputations. Ben is mentored by Dr. Mary Ann Comunale in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology.
VOA Burmese Profile
Michiko Thwe, biomedical engineering PhD candidate, was interviewed about their research in Alzheimer's Disease by VOA Burmese. Watch video on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhmS3HYFoCE&t=14s (အယ်လ်ဇိုင်းမားရောဂါ သုသေသနပြုစုနေသူ).
In the Media
An Early Test for Lyme. A prize-winning new test for Lyme disease could help doctors make a speedy diagnosis of the tick-borne disease. Exel - Drexel University Research Magazine (2023)
Editing Genes to Cure HIV. Three Drexel scientists are playing instrumental roles in a nationwide quest to conquer HIV using CRISPR gene-editing technology. Exel Drexel University Research Magazine (2023)
August 17, 2020: Will Dampier, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, was quoted in a Gizmodo story about whether it's possible to get a disease from a toilet seat.
May 27, 2020: Kayla M. Socarrás, a Microbiology & Immunology PhD student and researcher, was quoted in a Men's Health article about how to get rid of ticks this summer. The article was also published by Yahoo.
March 25, 2020: Akhil Vaidya, PhD, a professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology and director of the Center for Molecular Parasitology, was quoted in a Philadelphia Inquirer article about people stockpiling an anti-malaria drug touted by President Trump as a treatment for COVID-19.
September 10, 2019: Garth Ehrlich, PhD, a professor of microbiology and immunology, and otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, was quoted in a Grid Philly story about why we're seeing more cases of Lyme disease.
August 23, 2019: Garth D. Ehrlich, PhD, a professor of microbiology and immunology, and otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, was quoted in an NJ.com opinion article on common myths about Lyme disease diagnosis and treatment.
June 13, 2019: A microbiology and immunology research lab that focuses on identifying diseases carried by ticks, led by Garth Ehrlich, PhD, a professor of microbiology and immunology, was mentioned in a Philadelphia Inquirer story about a similar lab currently being operated at East Stroudsburg University.
April 23, 2019: Kayla Socarras, a Microbiology & Immunology PhD student, was quoted in a Yahoo! Lifestyle story about an impending uptick in bug populations this summer and how to avoid tick bites.
January 3, 2019: Alison Carey, MD, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology, was quoted in a Health story about how long cold and flu germs can live on surfaces like doorknobs and subway poles.
November 8, 2018: Garth Ehrlich, PhD, a professor of microbiology and immunology, was featured in a Philadelphia Inquirer story about his research investigating whether bacteria can cause Alzheimer’s disease.
October 22, 2018: "Pivotal moment for NetScientific's Glycotest Inc with $10 million financing"
Technology developed by Drexel University College of Medicine, Department of Microbiology & Immunology for the early detection of liver cancer has received a $10 million in series funding from from Fosun Pharma. Drexel University has licensed the patented technology to Glycotest, Inc. Fosun will receive exclusive licensing to manufacture and sell the Glycotest Inc. HCC Panel, in China.
Related Faculty: Dr. Mary Ann Comunale, Dr. Anand Mehta, Dr. Timothy Block (Inventors)
October 21, 2018: Joshua Chang Mell, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, is quoted in a PNAS Journal Club article about research he did to identify the genetic variations that enable nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) to adapt to life in the lungs of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
April 2018: Sandra Urdaneta-Hartmann, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, was quoted in a post on EdSurge about CD4 Hunter, a game created by a group of College of Medicine researchers to teach students about the life and replication cycle of HIV.
April 24, 2018: Akhil Vaidya, PhD, a professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, was quoted in a Science News story on a new genetically-modified plant that may bolster our supplies of antimalarial drugs.
April 15, 2018: Sandra Urdaneta-Hartmann, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, was interviewed on an episode of TWiV (This Week in Virology) about "CD4 Hunter," a game created by College of Medicine researchers to teach users about how the HIV virus infects.
August 23, 2017: Garth Ehrlich, PhD, professor in the Departments of Microbiology & Immunology and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, was quoted in a Philadelphia Inquirer story about a project his lab is undertaking to collect ticks from the public and use advanced gene sequencing techniques to study their microbiomes. Dr. Ehrlich’s research study was also quoted in a KYW-Newsradio (1060-AM) on August 26.
July 24, 2017: Carla Brown, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow, was interviewed for a WHYY/Newsworks.org story about "CD4 Hunter," a game created by Brown and researchers in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology that teaches players how HIV infects and replicates in the human body.
May 19, 2017: A Bucks County Courier Times article about the difficulty in diagnosing and treating Lyme disease, which quoted Garth Ehrlich, PhD, a professor in the Departments of Microbiology & Immunology, and Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, was picked up by WCAU-TV (NBC-10)'s website.
May 12, 2017: Garth Ehrlich, PhD, a professor in the Departments of Microbiology & Immunology and Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, was quoted in a Bucks County Courier Times story about the difficulty in diagnosing and treating Lyme disease.
March 29, 2017: Joshua Chang Mell, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, was quoted in a Cystic Fibrosis News Today story about a recent study he published, which profiled the genes of bacteria commonly found in the lungs of cystic fibrosis patients.
See all College of Medicine faculty in the Media
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