PhD
Assistant Professor, Microbiology and Immunology
UNC Chapel Hill
Immunology
Area of Interest
I am interested in studying the role of the mucosal immune system in maintaining homeostasis in the host. How the immune system at mucosal surfaces reacts to pathogens, commensals, and environmental agents, and how that affects local and distal diseases are the over-arching questions I want to explore in my career. In the short term, I will focus on the function and regulation of interferon-signaling in the intestinal epithelial cells in setting the tone and magnitude of T cell immunity in the intestine. To accomplish the research aims described in the research statement, I have generated many novel mouse strains, model-antigen-expressing mice, and bacteria.
Awards and Honors
- Invited Short Talk – Keystone Symposia on Innate Immunity: From Innate Sensing to Adaptive Responses, 2023
- Invited Talk – DDRCC Midwest Alliance Workshop at Washington University, 2022
- Trainee Abstract selected for oral presentation, American Association of Immunologists, 2018
- Future of Science Award, Keystone Symposium on Inflammation-Driven Cancer, 2017
- Trainee Abstract selected for oral presentation, American Association of Immunologists, 2017
- Trainee Abstract selected for oral presentation, American Association of Immunologists, 2015
- Trainee Abstract selected for oral presentation, American Association of Immunologists, 2014
- Ronald and Sharon Rogowski Fellowship, Michigan State University, 2013-2014
- Outstanding student poster and travel award, American Society of Microbiologists (ASM), 2013
- American Association of Immunologists Young Investigator Award, Autumn Immunology Conference, 2013
- All India Rank 2 (99.97 percentile), Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (Biology), India, 2007
