Congratulations to Dr. Penghua Wang for receiving promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure.  Dr. Wang’s research is focused on innate immunity and pathogenesis of important human viral diseases.

Congratulations to Dr. Penghua Wang from the Department of Immunology on the award of his NIH R21 grant through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases entitled, “The mechanism of flaviviral suppression of vitamin A metabolism”

Congratulations to Ryan Englander on the award of his NIH F30 fellowship grant through the National Cancer Institute entitled, “Alternative splicing as a source of shared neoantigens in a non-small cell lung cancer”.  Ryan is an MD/PhD candidate in the laboratories of affiliated faculty member Dr. Karolina Palucka and Dr. Olga Anczuków at The Jackson Laboratory.

Congratulations to Dr. Anthony Vella and Dr. Adam Adler on the award of their NIH R03 grant through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases entitled, “Generating a novel conditional knockout mouse for a super-enhancer that controls cytokine responsiveness".

Congratulations to Andrew Harrison who has been selected as a recipient of a 2023 AAI-Thermo Fisher Trainee Achievement Award.  This award recognizes six promising trainees in the field of immunology selected for oral presentation in a Block Symposium. Andrew is a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Penghua Wang, and his project involves investigating the role of glucose transporters in antiviral immunity.

Congratulations to Saki Mihori who has received an AAI Trainee Poster Award and ribbon of distinction for the 2023 AAI meeting in May in Washington D.C..  Saki is a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Clark and her project focuses on understanding mechanisms involved in harnessing the gut microbiome to regulate systemic innate immunity.

Dr. Yuanyuan Wu was selected to receive the AAI Trainee Abstract Award and invited to give an oral presentation at the Block Symposium of “Cellular Adhesion, Migration and Inflammation” at IMMUNOLOGY2023^TM in Washington, DC. Dr. Wu’s project in Dr. Zhichao Fan’s lab relates to using super-resolution stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM) and CRISPR-Cas9 to study the roles of kindlin-3 and talin-1 in beta2 integrin clustering on neutrophils.

Congratulations to Keaton Karlinsey on the award of his NIH F30 fellowship grant through the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute entitled, “Predicting Cardiovascular Outcomes Using Diabetes-Induced Transcriptomic Networks”.  Keaton is an MD/PhD candidate in the laboratory of Dr. Beiyan Zhou.

Congratulations to Dr. Sivapriya Kailasan Vanaja for having her paper, “A bacterial autotransporter impairs innate immune responses by targeting the transcription factor TFE3” published in the journal Nature Communications. The paper first authored by Dr. Atri Ta, a postdoctoral fellow in the Kailasan Vanaja lab, identified a novel autotransporter protein secreted by Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli that functions as a suppressor of host type I interferon defense. The findings from this study provide insights into the mechanisms by which bacterial pathogens diminish the host innate immune responses to successfully establish an infection.

Congratulations to Dr. Tian Tian on receiving a travel award and being selected to give an oral presentation at the Keystone Symposia "Innate Immunity: From Innate Sensing to Adaptive Responses" held in Snowbird, Utah. Dr. Tian is a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Jianbin Ruan's laboratory and her project focuses on elucidating the molecular mechanisms of innate immune signaling pathways that regulate Gasdermin (GSDM)-mediated pyroptotic cell death. Pictured in the photo: Dr. Tian, Dr. Jianbin Ruan and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Chengliang Wang.