J Marie Hardwick, PhD, Johns Hopkins University, United States of America
J. Marie Hardwick, PhD, is the David Bodian* Professor at Johns Hopkins University, the Vice-Chair of Research in the W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and is appointed in the Departments of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Neurology, and Oncology in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She trained in virology and began her career studying apoptosis regulation by viral and cellular genes. In this context, her laboratory revealed that cellular as well as viral apoptosis regulators are key determinants of disease pathogenesis, and uncovered novel functions of apoptosis regulators. While her research team continues to investigate BCL-2 family proteins and animal models of neurological disease, she began almost two decades ago to explore suicidal death in single-cell organisms. Currently her team investigates eukaryotic microorganism cell death in pathogens of public health significance. This neglected aspect of biology is now emerging as a vibrant new field, and this article series seeks to inspire and grow research in this area.
*David Bodian and colleagues delineated poliovirus pathogenesis, developed and tested the first effective vaccines, providing the groundwork for Salk and Sabin.