Administration

Distinguished Professor Picking earned his PhD at the University of Kansas. His research interests include the use of specialized secretion systems by bacteria to communicate with mammalian cells, the mechanism of activation of the "type III secretion system" of Shigella flexneri, the general molecular mechanisms used by bacterial pathogens to cause disease in humans and how these can be targeted in vaccine development, comparative analysis of type III secrection systems from other bacterial pathogens, and protein structure-function relationships.

Dr. Martinez Becerra received his PhD from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and postdoctoral training from The University of Maryland at Baltimore and Oklahoma State University. His research interests include vaccine development against bacterial pathogens and analysis of protective immune responses.  Dr. Martinez Becerra is the Director of the Immunology Core Lab of the Kansas Vaccine Institute, which contains equipment useful in analyzing the immunological and cell biology markers in samples generated in vaccine studies.