Program Description

The Graduate Program in Pathobiology is an interdisciplinary program that focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of disease. Housed in the Department of Veterinary Science, the Pathobiology program has a young and active faculty, which affords graduates students an outstanding selection of laborato­ries in which to work.

Research focuses on three areas:

• Immunology - faculty seek to understand the mechanisms by which the body fights disease. Their work covers a range of important research areas, from the role of cell signaling in B and T lymphocytes to that of macrophages in cell‑mediated immunity
• Toxicology - faculty in toxicology provide exciting oppor­tunities to study the response of cells to toxic compounds and how antioxidants affect cellular metabolism
• Pathogenesis of disease - brings together a diverse faculty with a wide range of techniques to bear on both human diseases and those that affect agricultural animals. 

Faculty research is well funded, with external funding coming primarily from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. and Pennsylvania Departments of Agriculture.

Within Penn State's Depart­ment of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences and the Huck Institute of the Life Sciences are core facilities that include:

• DNA sequencing and oligonucleotide synthesis
• Flow cytometry and cell sorting
• Hybridoma and monoclonal antibody production
• Production of transgenic mice and the targeted mutation of genes using embryonic stem cell technology
• Electron microscopy
• Phospho‑imager analysis
• Capability to study gene expression using microarrays
• Mass spectrometry and proteomics
• X-Ray crystallography

Seminars

Students have the opportunity to attend seminars presented by nationally and internationally known researchers. The Department of Veterinary & Biomedical Science sponsors the Bortree Lecture Series and in collaboration with the Huck Institute of the Life Sciences sponsors a seminar series in molecular toxicology and immunobiology. Numerous other seminar series sponsored by the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Department of Biology, the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, and the Huck Institute of Life Sciences help provide a rich atmosphere for biomedical research.