Dr. Ronald Collman from Pulmonary runs a program investigating microbial pathogenesis in the respiratory tract, including: (a) basic mechanisms in HIV-1 biology that contribute to AIDS pathogenesis and (b) application of molecular microbiome tools to the respiratory tract and diseases in pulmonary and critical care medicine. Much of his recent research has focused on the pulmonary microbiome including changes seen in HIV infection, lung transplantation, sarcoidosis and critical illness/acute lung injury. He interacts closely with colleagues in Pulmonary (Drs. Christie, Diamond, Haas) as well as Microbiology, Infectious Disease, and Hematology. Support for this research includes NIH R01 and U01 grants. Dr. Collman is also Co-Director of the Penn Center for AIDS Research.
Specific projects include:
- Metagenomic analysis of the Respiratory Tract Microbiome in health and disease
- Mechanisms of HIV-1 entry into target cells, target tropism and pathogenesis, and molecular virology