Student topics

The following is a list of suggested topics for
your consideration. In making your selection, you
should indicate your first and second choice of
topic, since duplication will not be permitted.
Large topics can be subdivided to allow several
nonoverlapping presentations. However, this will
require prior discussion with the faculty. Should
you find that there is another topic you would like
to investigate, we are also willing to entertain
your suggestion. Any alternative seminar topics
must be approved in advance.

* Clinical Microbiology and Epidemiology.

1. Current status of Lyme Disease research
2. Helicobacter pylori and GI tract disease
3. Genetic predisposition to cancer
4. Mycobacterium tuberculosis and antibiotic
resistance, a re-emerging disease and public
health problem.
5. Four Corners Disease (Hantavirus)
6. Pathogen identification and food safety
7. Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases
8. Streptococcal toxic-shock syndrome
9. Streptococci; "Flesh-eating bacteria"
10. Microsporidiosis, a new human disease previously
known only in animals
11. TB and antibiotic resistance, a re-emerging
disease and public health problem.
12. Role of bacteriocins in food safety
13. Antigenic shift and drift of influenza virus, genetic
basis and clinical implication
14. The increase in antimicrobial resistance
15. Ebola, a newly emerging disease
16. Moribilliviruses and wildlife diseases
17. Pfisteria piscicida; dramatic fishkills and subtle
effect
18. Leishmaniasis
19. T. cruzi epidemiology and control in South
American
20. Global climate change and change in disease
distributions.
21. Good bacteria in and on our bodies and in our
environment
22. Malaria - have we lost this biowar?
23. Tropical Medicine and Pharmaceuticals - who
should pay for developing/producing drugs
against tropical diseases.
24. AIDS in Africa: Resource Needs for HIV/AIDS
25. The Foot-and-Mouth epidemic in Great Britain.
26. Developing "Ethnic" Drugs; accounting for
inherited physiological differences.

* Microbial evolution and systematics.

1. The role of horizontal gene exchange in bacterial
evolution
2. Endolithic bacteria in low temperature
environments, a case for life on Mars
3. Xenobiotics
4. Complete genome sequences and their impact on
our views of evolution
5. State of the art of microbial genome analysis.
6. Evolution of Bacterial pathogenesis and
symbiosis.
7. Evolution of Cell Recognition by viruses.

*  Applied and Environmental

1. Biocontrol of plant pathogens
2. DNA vaccines/Edible vaccines/Subunit vaccines -
what works? What doesn't?
3. GMOs and world opin ion
4. Enhancing our food supply through genetic
engineering
5. Catalytic antibodies (engineering antibodies to
function as enzymes)
6. Biocatalysis for the production of high-value
chemicals
7. Where will the new antimicrobials come from?
8. Cold acclimation in plants and bacteria
9. Enzymes and proteins from the extreme
thermophiles
10. Bacterial bioluminescence
11. Analysis of bacteria in fossil samples
12. Production of insecticidal compounds by bacteria
and fungi
13. biological forensis techniques: methods and
applications
14. bioengineering custom Microbes
15. Plant/microbe interactions important in
Phytoremediation
16. Molecular Electronics: assembling nanocircuits,
another role for DNA?
17. Nitrogen fixation by Spirochetes.
18. Microbial alchemy: Using bacteria to mine
precious metals.

*  pathogenesis

1. Adhesion of bacteria and pathogenesis
2. Bacterial toxins and their mode of action.
3. Mammalian endotoxin receptors
4. Pathogen receptors
5. Antisense inhibition of viral infections
6. Defining disease in the Genomics Era.
7. 7 Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)
8. Bovine spongiform encephnalopathy (BSE).

*  General Virology

1. Current research on retroviruses
2. Viral disease resistance in plants
3. Human papillomaviruses
4. HIV protease inhibitors, a new class of antiviral
drugs
5. Status of vaccine research for HIV/AIDS
6. Use of viruses as vectors for treating diseases in
humans and animals
7. herpesvirus latency in neurons
8. Chemokine receptors and HIV infection
9. Neuraminidase inhibitors, a new class of anti-
influenza drugs
10. Computer-aided design of antiviral drugs
11. Smallpox and bioterrorism: how worried should
we be?

*  Immunology

1. The role of nitric oxide in the immune system
2. Inheritance and allergy
3. Cell adhesion/signaling in the immune system
4. Superantigens
5. Virus-encoded superantigens
6. Rearrangement of immunoglobin genes
7. Autoimmune diseases (e.g. arthritis, diabetes,
lupus, or MS) [ note: each is a full seminar topic ]
8. Mucosal surfaces, alternative target sites for
vaccines
9. How the immune system recognizes virus-infected
cells?
10. Evading our immune system: successful parasite
stategies.

*  Molecular and Cell Biology

1. non-coding RNAs and regulation
2. RNAi
3. Chromatin and regulation
4. Epigenetics and cloning: why do dolly's joints
hurt?
5. Gene expression in trypanosomes
6. Two component regulatory systems
7. Regulation of ribosome biosynthesis
8. Apoptosis (programmed cell death) in biology and
medicine
9. What have we learned about human evolution
and/or migration from mitochondrial DNA
analysis?
10. Apoptosis (programmed cell death) in biology and
medicine
11. Oncogenes vs tumor suppressors
12. Embryonic stem cell research in the US and
abroad - state of the art and potential.
13. Muscular dystrophy
14. Making Sense of Taste
15. SNARE proteins in cellular membrane trafficking.