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The Alkek Fountain and the Roy and Lillie Cullen Building are the 'front door' of BCM's main campus.
About BCM
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Department of Immunology

Please visit our website at: http://www.bcm.edu/immuno/

Chair

Richard G. Cook, Ph.D. (Interim)

Mission Statement

The Department of Immunology offers a program in education and research relating to molecular immunology and immunological diseases. We provide didactic and seminar courses and research training in immunology to graduate students, medical students, and postdoctoral fellows.

Research interests of the Department of Immunology faculty are diverse and include: lymphocyte activation, signal transduction and transcriptional regulation, apoptosis, mechanisms of V(D)J DNA recombination, development of T and B lymphocytes, stem cell development, gene therapy and genetic vaccines, antigen presentation and structure/function of MHC molecules, tumor immunology, leukocyte migration in inflammation and disease, and immune-related diseases including asthma, autoimmunity, AIDS and inherited immunodeficiencies.

Our research facilities are located in several areas throughout the Baylor College of Medicine complex, including laboratories at the main campus (DeBakey Center and Alkek Building), The Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. We offer state-of-the-art facilities for cellular and molecular immunology and immunochemistry, including tissue culture, protein sequencing, peptide synthesis, mass spectrometry, recombinant DNA, flow cytometry and cell sorting, and confocal microscopy facilities.

Education & Training Programs

Immunology website education information

Medical Student Curriculum - The Basic and Clinical Immunology course includes the study of normal immune functions and provides an introduction to transplantation immunology, immune deficiencies, autoimmunity, and other immunological diseases. Patient case-based discussions in small groups are used to integrate material presented in lectures.

Doctor of Philosophy Program

http://www.bcm.edu/immuno/graduate_program.html

Our department offers a graduate program leading to the Ph.D. degree. The program provides an integrated multidisciplinary foundation in the areas of molecular and cell biology, and genetics, with emphasis on molecular immunology. Individuals educated in this program thus attain the conceptual breadth, coupled with the specialized research experience, necessary to undertake professional careers as investigators and teachers in the field of immunology. General requirements for admission and for attaining graduate degrees in the Immunology program are the same as those required by the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences .

Our program is based on a multi-term set of required core and elective courses during the first year. A unique first-term course that we teach develops problem-solving and grant proposal writing skills using a particular host-parasite relationship as a topic for research and discussion. Core courses include those taught by the Graduate School as part of the service course curriculum and more specialized courses taught by the Immunology faculty.

Pre and Postdoctoral Training Grant

http://www.bcm.edu/immuno/fellow.html

The department has a Training Grant from the NIH for the support of graduate and postdoctoral students.

Current Research

Current research at the Department of Immunology

Contact Us

Department of Immunology
Baylor College of Medicine
Michael E. DeBakey Center
One Baylor Plaza, Rm. M929
Houston, TX 77030

Last modified: August 23, 2006