Dr. Michael Imperiale is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan. He joined the department in 1984 as the Arthur F. Thurnau Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and was subsequently promoted to Associate Professor in 1990 and Professor in 1996. He is currently the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Associate Chair of Microbiology and Immunology. In 2010, Dr. Imperiale was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and, in 2011, he was elected as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2016, he was a recipient of the Rackham Distinguished Doctoral Mentor Award from the University of Michigan.

Before joining the University of Michigan, Dr. Imperiale carried out research training as a postdoctoral fellow at The Rockefeller University, where he first became interested in DNA tumor viruses, studying gene regulation in the human pathogen, adenovirus. He received his undergraduate and graduate training at Columbia University, receiving a BA in 1976, MA in 1978, and PhD in 1981, all in Biological Sciences.

Dr. Imperiale is the founding editor in chief of mSphere and also serves as an editor for mBio.

In addition to his laboratory research, Dr. Imperiale is involved in science policy. He serves on the Committee on Science, Technology, and Law at the National Academies, and recently chaired a study for the Academies entitled “Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology.”