Faculty Detail   
Name CARLOS J. ORIHUELA
  
Campus Address BBRB 670 Zip 2170
Phone  (205) 975-2536
E-mail  corihuel@uab.edu
Other websites PubMed Listing
Lab Webpage
    

 Education

Undergraduate  Baylor University    1996  B.S. Biology, minor Chemistry 
Graduate  The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston    2001  PhD, Microbiology 
Fellowship  St. Jude Children's Research Hospital    2005  Infectious Diseases 

Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Primary  Microbiology  Microbiology Professor
Center  Comprehensive Cardiovascular Ctr  Comprehensive Cardiovascular Ctr Professor
Center  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci Professor
Center  Integrative Center for Aging Research  Integrative Center for Aging Research Professor
Center  UAB Immunology Institute  UAB Immunology Institute Professor

Biographical Sketch 
Dr. Orihuela obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree from Baylor University in 1996. He subsequently earned his PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston where he was a Kempner Scholar. From 2001 to 2005, Dr. Orihuela completed his postdoctoral research training in the Department of Infectious Diseases at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis TN. He returned to Texas in 2005, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. While at San Antonio, Dr. Orihuela was promoted with tenure to Associate Professor and recipient of the Presidential Junior Research Scholar Award, Distinguished Hispanic Faculty Award from the Graduate School, and Glenn Award for Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging. In Fall of 2015 Dr. Orihuela joined the Department of Microbiology at UAB. Dr. Orihuela currently is a member of the Host Interactions with Bacterial Pathogens Study Section for the NIH, Associate Editor for the journals PLoS Pathogens and Infection and Immunity, and editor of a recent book on the molecular mechanisms of Streptococcus pneumoniae pathogenesis.

Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Host-pathogen interactions for development of invasive pneumococcal disease
Description
Since 1996, Dr. Orihuela's research focus has been the host-pathogen interactions that underlie development of invasive pneumococcal disease. Most recently this includes examining the role of necroptosis (i.e. a pro-inflammatory cell death program) on pulmonary injury during bacterial infection, exploring the molecular basis of cardiac invasion during severe Streptococcus pneumoniae infection, and dissecting how the toxin pneumolysin kills lung cell and cardiomyocytes. His laboratory routinely uses knockout mice, isogenic deletion and complemented mutants of S. pneumoniae, “omic” technologies (e.g. genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic), therapeutic drug treatments, CRISPR/Cas9 gene edited cell lines, and fluorescent and electron microscopy.

Keywords
Streptococcus pneumoniae, aging, pathogenesis, innate immunology, necroptosis