The Blazer Bridge Fund encourages discovery among the UAB community by providing financial support to innovative ideas and inventions.

John Kearney, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor and Endowed Professor in Immunology in the UAB Department of Microbiology, will officially retire from UAB on Sept. 30, 2025, after more than five decades of service to the institution.

A study published in Nature Microbiology shows that SARS-CoV-2 triggers foam cell formation in lungs, contributing to long-COVID lung damage, which can be mitigated by early antiviral treatment with molnupiravir.

At a time when science is reimagining what it means to prevent and potentially cure HIV, UAB Microbiology researchers carried their discoveries to the global stage.

UAB Medicine’s Leadership Development Office welcomed 18 individuals in its 11th cohort of Institute for Leadership in August 2025.

J. Victor Garcia-Martinez, Ph.D., professor and chair, Charles H.

A multi-institutional study led by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill) has revealed a previously underappreciated mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 infection contributes to long-term lung damage.

UAB researchers say this study shows passive antibody therapy can dramatically reduce Zika virus infection in critical tissues that could potentially lead to decreased transmission of virus through sex and from pregnant mothers to their babies.

Driven by a passion for discovery, a deep commitment to science and the support of his family, Joshua Huffines is graduating with a Ph.D. in microbiology.

A recent deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in New York is a stark reminder that this invisible threat could be lurking in the water mist you breathe every day, from your shower to a decorative fountain or a building’s cooling towers. Though it feels like a new danger, the bacteria behind this illness have haunted public health for nearly 50 years. 

Digestion is often thought of as a simple process confined to the stomach; but the reality is far more intricate, as one UAB researcher shares.

Tumor therapy with immune checkpoint blockers may be improved by fine-tuning Gfi1 in CD8+ T cells.

A UAB microbiologist unpacks the complex biology of rabies, highlighting how UAB researchers use molecular science to expose its vulnerabilities and explore new paths for treatment.

It starts quietly, a bite or a scratch, and by the time symptoms surface, it’s often too late. Rabies isn’t just a distant threat—it’s alive and present here in Alabama.

Jan Novak, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor in the UAB Department of Microbiology, has been named the Inaugural Holder of the Jiri Mestecky Endowed Professorship in Microbiology.

The UAB Department of Microbiology welcomed Hongjin Zheng, Ph.D., as associate professor in June 2025.

Taxonomy — classifying viruses into genus, species and so forth — has the power to affect public health

Fran Lund, Ph.D., professor in the UAB Department of Microbiology and director of the UAB Immunology Institute, along with other UAB researchers, recently published a study in Immunity illustrating the crucial role a protein called T-bet plays in protecting the body’s immune response to influenza.

T-bet expression is required for persistence of memory B cells that have rapid differentiation potential to become antibody-producing plasma cells in response to a second infection.

For the first time in its history, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) will hold its annual meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, hosted by Elliot Lefkowitz, Ph.D., professor in the UAB Department of Microbiology. 

How research enriches the medical school experience. Federico Prokopczuk is in his fourth year as an M.D./Ph.D. trainee.

The UAB Department of Microbiology is happy to welcome graduate students who have recently joined UAB Microbiology labs for their training.

Each year, rabies kills thousands of people worldwide, and it remains a silent threat right here in Alabama. Often transmitted through the bite or scratch of an infected animal, this viral disease is almost always fatal once symptoms appear.

Besides their normal role, pump overexpression confers drug resistance. Knowing the structure is a step to disabling the pumps with inhibitors.

UAB is a stronghold at finding patients for studies, but healthy controls were harder.

The UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center recently announced five winners of the O’Neal Invests grant awards, two generously funded by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation of Alabama (BCRFA).

You’re not the only one digesting your lunch—so are your microbes. Every time you eat, an entire ecosystem inside your gut gets to work, breaking down food, absorbing nutrients, and boosting your immune system.

Kansas recently confirmed one of the largest Tuberculosis outbreaks in U.S. history.

The UAB Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine recognized 15 faculty members for their outstanding contributions to research, education, and clinical care at the Spring 2025 Endowed Chairs and Professorships Reception.

The David E. Wells Memorial Symposium, a longstanding tradition in the UAB Department of Microbiology, will be held this year on May 21.