Administrative Core

Karl Klose

Director

Karl Klose, Ph.D.

Professor of Microbiology

Office: BSE 3.252
Phone: 210-458-6140
Karl.Klose@utsa.edu

Lab: BSE 3.252
Lab Phone: 210-458-6141
Klose Lab

Research Interests: Dr. Klose’s lab is interested in bacterial pathogenesis – how bacteria cause disease. The lab is researching Vibrio cholerae, the bacterium that causes cholera, and Francisella tularensis, the bacterium that causes tularemia.

Jose Lopez-Ribot

Associate Director

Jose Lopez-Ribot, Pharm.D., Ph.D.

Professor of Microbiology

Office: MBT 1.246
Phone: 210-458-7022
Jose.Lopezribot@utsa.edu

Lab: BSE 3.252
Lab Phone: 210-458-7023
Lopez-Ribot Lab

Research Interests: Dr. Lopez-Ribot's lab studies fungal infections, with an emphasis on the opportunistic pathogenic fungus Candida albicans. Main projects in the lab deal with targeting virulence factors for the development of novel antifungal agents.

Neal Guentzel

Parliamentarian

Neal Guentzel, Ph.D.

Professor of Microbiology

Office: BSE 3.204
Phone: 210-458-4473
Neal.Guentzel@utsa.edu

Lab: BSE 3.204
Lab Phone: 210-458-4473
Guentzel Lab

Research Interests: Dr. Guentzel's research focuses on microbial pathogenesis and immunity to infectious diseases. His lab is studying the mechanisms of virulence used by various microorganisms, especially in the gastrointestinal tract.

Faculty

Hamid Badali

Hamid Badali, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Research

Office: 
Phone: 210-458-7545
Hamid.Badali@utsa.edu

Lab:
Lab Phone:

Research Interests: Dr. Badali's research focuses on antifungal screening and drug development, Candida albicans and Candida auris biofilm, development of nano drug delivery for fungal infection, mechanisms of antifungal resistance, medical mycology, and nanoparticulate of antifungal drug delivery.

Astrid Cardona

Astrid Cardona, Ph.D.

Professor of Immunology

Office: MBT 1.216
Phone: 210-458-5071
Astrid.Cardona@utsa.edu

Lab: MBT 1.212
Lab Phone: 210-458-5029
Cardona Lab

Research Interests: Dr. Cardona's research is focused on understanding the mechanisms of tissue damage in Multiple Sclerosis and Diabetic retinopathy. Her laboratory focuses on the functional interactions between immune cells, microglia, neurons and blood vessels.

James Chambers

James Chambers, Ph.D.

Professor of Biochemistry

Office: BSE 3.224
Phone: 210-458-5477
James.Chambers@utsa.edu

Lab: BSE 3.224
Lab Phone: 210-458-5477
Chambers Lab

Research Interests: Dr. Chambers’ research interests focus on biosensors, influenza epidemiology, and Francisella tularensis. He seeks to understand the processes that make it possible to develop new and novel treatment regimes, with special regard to treatments for illness associated with F. tularensis.

Mark Eppinger

Mark Eppinger, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Microbial Genomics

Office: FLN 4.02.34
Phone: 210-458-6276
Mark.Eppinger@utsa.edu

Lab: BSE 3.404
Lab Phone: 
Eppinger Lab

Research Interests: The focus of Dr. Eppinger's research is the application of microbial genomics to address fundamental questions in emerging infectious diseases research. Current interests are directed towards large-scale sequencing and phylogenomic studies investigating major public health threats.

Thomas Forsthuber

Thomas Forsthuber, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor of Immunology

Office: BSE 3.254
Phone: 210-458-5760
Thomas.Forsthuber@utsa.edu

Lab: BSE 3.250
Lab Phone: 210-458-5499
Forsthuber Lab

Research Interests: Dr. Forsthuber’s lab researches the role of the immune system in human diseases, in particular on T lymphocytes in autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, and in infectious diseases.

Kirsten Hanson

Kirsten Hanson, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Biology

Office: BSE 1.646
Phone: 210-458-5904
Kirsten.Hanson@utsa.edu

Lab: BSE 3.408
Lab Phone: 210-458-5221
Hanson Lab

Research Interests: Research in Dr. Hanson’s lab focuses on the cellular and developmental biology of Plasmodium parasites and host-parasite interactions, particularly in the asymptomatic liver stage of the parasite lifecycle.

Hans Heidner

Hans W. Heidner, Ph.D.

Professor of Virology

Office: BSB 2.03.34
Phone: 210-458-5767
Hans.Heidner@utsa.edu

Lab: BSB 2.03.34
Lab Phone: 210-458-5767
Heidner Lab

Research Interests: Dr. Heidner’s research focuses on the replication of alphaviruses in vertebrate and mosquito cells, as well as the use of alphavirus-based vectors for cell targeting and vaccine applications and development.

Chiung-Yu Hung

Chiung-Yu Hung, Ph.D.

Professor of Microbiology and Immunology

Office: MBT 1.242
Phone: 210-458-7018
Chiungyu.Hung@utsa.edu

Lab: Lab: MBT 1.238
Lab Phone: 210-458-7019
Hung Lab

Research Interests: Dr. Hung’s research focuses on characterization of protective immunity and vaccine development, discovery of novel fungal chemotherapies, and development of rapid screening methods for drug discovery.

Soo Chan Lee

Soo Chan Lee, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Biology

Office: 
Phone: 210-458-5398
SooChan.Lee@utsa.edu

Lab: 
Lab Phone: 210-458-5398
Lee Lab

Research Interests: Dr. Lee's lab focuses on medical mycology and fungal pathogenesis, primarily mucormycosis, an emerging fungal infection that poses serious threats to public health.

Rahul Raghavan

Rahul Raghavan, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Office:
Phone: 
Rahul.Raghavan@utsa.edu

Lab:
Lab Phone: 
Raghavan Lab

Research Interests: Research in the Raghavan lab combines molecular microbiology with evolutionary genomics to investigate how changes in proteins and non-coding RNAs facilitate bacterial adaptation.

Jesús Romo

Jesús A. Romo, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Office:
Phone:
Jesus.Romo@utsa.edu

Lab:
Lab Phone:
Romo Lab

Research Interests: Dr. Romo’s research is focused on characterizing the role and impact of fungal colonizers in the mammalian gastrointestinal tract during infection by bacterial pathogens. Of particular interest is trans-kingdom interactions between fungi, bacteria, and their host.

Stephen Saville

Stephen Saville, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Genetics

Office: MBT 1.228
Phone: 210-458-6197
Stephen.Saville@utsa.edu

Lab: MBT 1.228
Lab Phone: 210-458-6197
Saville Lab

Research Interests: Dr. Saville’s lab focuses on the genetic regulation of Candida albicans cell shape and determining how morphological changes impact the ability of the fungus to cause disease in both mucosal and disseminated infection models.

Janakiram Seshu

Janakiram Seshu, Ph.D.

Professor of Bacterial Pathogenesis

Office: BSE 3.230
Phone: 210-458-6578
J.Seshu@utsa.edu

Lab: BSE 3.230
Lab Phone: 210-458-6578
Seshu Lab

Research Interests: Research in Dr. Seshu’s lab deals with bacterial pathogenesis, Borrelia burgdorferi (the causative agent of Lyme disease), Coxiella burnetii (the causative agent of Q fever), and the biology of Spirochetes.

Yufeng Wang

Yufeng Wang, Ph.D.

Professor of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology

Office: FLN 3.01.20
Phone: 210-458-6492
Yufeng.Wang@utsa.edu

Lab: FLN 3.01.20
Lab Phone: 210-458-6493
Wang Lab

Research Interests: Research in Dr. Wang's lab focuses on the comparative genomics, molecular evolution, and systems biology of gene families.

Jieh-Juen Yu

Jieh-Juen Yu, Ph.D.

Professor of Research

Office: BSE 3.232
Phone: 210-458-5492
Jiehjuen.Yu@utsa.edu

Lab: BSE 3.232
Lab Phone: 210-458-5210

Research Interests: Dr. Yu’s research interests are in the development of vaccines against respiratory bacterial pathogens and the elucidation of host immune responses to bacterial infection.

Guoquan Zhang

Guoquan Zhang, DVM, Ph.D.

Professor

Office:
Phone: 210-458-7020
Guoquan.Zhang@utsa.edu

Lab:
Lab Phone: 210-458-7020
Zhang Lab

Research Interests: Dr. Zhang’s research focuses on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of protective immunity against aerosolized intracellular bacterial pathogens and developing novel approaches for discovery of safe, effective vaccines and immunotherapeutic strategies against aerosol-transmitted intracellular bacterial pathogens.

Yan Zhang

Yan Zhang, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Research

Office:
Phone: 210-458-7020
Yan.Zhang@utsa.edu

Lab:
Lab Phone: 210-458-7020

Research Interests: Dr. Zhang’s research interests involve the mechanisms of host cell-microbial pathogen interaction and developing vaccines against cancer and infectious diseases.

Staff

Sara Eppinger, M.S.

Laboratory Manager - Mark Eppinger Lab
Lab: BSE 3.410 | Lab Phone: n/a | Sara.Eppinger@utsa.edu

Ildiko Forsthuber

Research Scientist Associate I - Thomas Forsthuber Lab
Lab: BSE 3.250 | Lab Phone: 210-458-5499 | Ildiko.Forsthuber@utsa.edu