I don't know exactly what you are looking for, and how you look on paper
(GPA, GRE scores, etc).
Boston is a mecca for immunology and molecular biology. You can't go
wrong with David Baltimore, 1975 Nobel Laureate in Medicine and
Physiology. He's not exactly an immunologist, but he is penetrating
some of the fundamental questions, such as the molecular basis of B
lymphocyte development and the mechanisms of HIV pathogenesis. He
discovered NFkappaB, for example, a transcription factor critical to the
immune system (look at his mouse KO paper is the January 27 issue of
Cell) and to the control of HIV-1 replication. He spent most of his
career at MIT in Cambridge (across the Charles River from Boston),
although he spent a recent brief period as President of Rockefeller
University in New York. He is now back at MIT. It's a wonderful
intellectual environment, close to the „real Harvard¾ (i.e., not the
Harvard Medical School, in Boston). You may contact him at
baltimo at mit.edu.
Chicago is a nice town, too. The University of Chicago is superb, and
is the home of Ursula Storb. She is asking fundamental questions about
the molecular switches regulating lymphocyte development. You may
contact her at stor at midway.uchicago.edu.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is also an excellent place for
immunology. George Shaw and Beatrice Hahn are excellent on HIV-1
molecular biology and AIDS pathogenesis. I don't have an E-mail, but
you can call Shaw at the UAB AIDS Center, (205) 934-1567.
If you are interested in HIV/AIDS, the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research
Center in New York City is a top choice, with its affiliation with the
medical school at NYU. It is in Manhattan. David Ho is its director,
and can be reached at (212) 725-0018. Ho is clever, and has collected
around him an excellent group of faculty at the Assistant and Associate
Professor level.
I can't say that my institution ranks with those I've mentioned, but
there are good people here at Wayne State University as well. It is
situated in Detroit, a large metropolis with a distinct international
flavor due to its location juxtaposed to Canada and its large numbers of
immigrant groups, for example, most recently from the Middle East.
There is an excellent Department of Immunology-Microbiology with true
immunologists such as Harley Tse and sort-of-immunologists like myself.
The University has recently recruited William Peters from Duke
University to head the Comprehensive Cancer Center and the affiliated
Michigan Cancer Foundation. Other new faculty are Fayth Yoshimura
(coming from University of Washington, Seattle) and Anne Galy (coming
from Systemix, Palo Alto, CA). There is a rather new Center for
Molecular Medicine and Genetics, which you can contact at
apply at cmb.biosci.wayne.edu. There is also an excellent and well-funded
group at the Mott Center for Human Growth and Development, the research
arm of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. If you want to
study the development of the HUMAN immune system, this is a good
environment.
These are just a few of the many places. I haven't even mentioned
places outside USA, but the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Australia
comes to mind...superb.
Good luck.
Anton Scott Goustin, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Wayne State University,
Detroit, MI 48202-3917 USA.
