Faculty members in MMI and other departments with research interests in microbial pathogenesis and host responses have a long history of interlab interactions, comentoring graduate students, co-directing courses, co-hosting invited speakers, co-organizing meetings, and informally sharing reagents and reviewing each other’s manuscripts and grant applications. In 1998, the Dr. Jon Woods organized the UW Interlab Pathogenic Fungus Group which holds monthly meetings at which alternating laboratories are responsible for presenting research results and getting feedback from other laboratories; presenters have included graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty members, often with several members of a lab participating in the presentation. Although this subspeciality group has been successful, it was and is obvious that UW-Madison has broader strength and interest in the field of microbial pathogenesis and host interactions reaching beyond a phylogenetic restriction to fungi. Self-affiliation of MDTP faculty with this topic area provides a good example. Early after MDTP inception, in order to subdivide the large number of faculty into research areas for the convenience of potential graduate applicants viewing the website, the PI polled the ~80 MDTP trainers to give them the opportunity to identify for themselves up to 3 of the following 15 areas for affiliation: Cell Biology, Environmental Microbiology, Gene Regulation, Genetics, Genomics, Immunology, Microbe-Host Interactions/Symbioses, Microbial Pathogenesis, Mycology, Nucleic Acid Structure & Function, Parasitology, Physiology, Protein Structure & Function, Virology, and Yeast Genetics & Biology. Numerically the largest group, 32 faculty, have chosen Microbial Pathogenesis as an area reflecting their research, and this number continues to grow as more trainers join this graduate program. Additionally, 16 faculty have chosen the related category of Immunology. This field is extremely well-populated on campus and within the MDTP.
In 2000, the Dr. Woods organized the Microbial Pathogenesis & Host Responses Group modeled on the pathogenic fungus group but designed to be a larger interactive research forum and lead to a funded predoctoral training program. This group is organized and its website administered through MMI, but there are more than 50 UW-Madison faculty investigators from 17 departments across 3 colleges listed on the website. Its research programs focus on a range of bacterial, fungal, parasitic, and viral pathogens and immunology and host responses, and the group also includes a number of clinical investigators from the Division of Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine. The website lists and provides links to relevant undergraduate and graduate courses offered by MMI and also several other departments on campus. There is also a job postings bulletin board on the website, principally focused on postdoctoral opportunities and thus mainly targeted at current graduate students. This job site has become increasingly popular, with Dr. Woods receiving numerous requests for postings from around UW-Madison and nationally. Regular MPHRG research meetings are held at which labs alternate in presenting their results and receiving feedback from members of the community. The MPHRG co-sponsors the MMI 900 invited speakers (3-5 per semester) and also has hosted guest speakers separately from this MMI course. The development of the MPHRG led to a reorganized format for the MMI 900 journal club course, from one in which papers were selected almost randomly to one in which there is a topical theme each semester or academic year, which guides the selection of student-presented papers and invited speakers. The addition of such outside speakers to this otherwise literature presentation course has increased the focus and enhanced the experience for participating students, faculty, and other laboratory personnel. Students and postdoctoral fellows are invited to a catered lunch with each speaker after the seminar for scientific and career discussion. Speakers are chosen by the course directors (Dillard and Knoll) after soliciting input from program faculty and students. Finally, there is an MPHRG listserver (designated “Pathogen”) for announcement of local campus events, seminars, and meetings and relevant outside meetings, and discussion of topics related to the field among interested parties on campus.
For more information regarding the Microbial Pathogensis and Host Responses Group, please see their website at http://www.medmicro.wisc.edu/MPHRG/.
