PhD
Assistant Professor, Microbiology and Immunology
UNC-Chapel Hill
Immunology
Area of Interest
Tissue immunity is orchestrated through a coordinated interaction between hematopoietic and structural cells. While the immune cells are central to and are at the frontline of an inflammatory response, other cells including neuronal cells are active collaborators and modulators of this response. Markers of inflammation such as pain and fever are neurally mediated, and neurons produce mediators with receptors present on immune cells and vice-versa. These observations point to the existence of neuro-immune modules with implications for inflammation and homeostasis. The gut mucosa is the site where majority of immune cells reside and their activation is tightly controlled to mount an inflammatory response to pathogenic insults but maintain tolerance to innocuous dietary, and commensal-derived antigens.
Understanding the identity and function of neuro-immune interactions that modulate these immunological processes, and how they can be modulated for favorable outcomes in intestinal and systemic responses are the questions I want to address as an independent investigator. In the immediate future I will focus on the function of sympathetic neurons in progression of colon tumorigenesis. Stress is often associated with worsening of many inflammatory disorders including IBD and cancer, but the molecular and cellular underpinnings of this observation are unknown. We can use animal models to define modules particularly associated with altered sympathetic activity and test their prognostic and therapeutic potential in human patients.
My research strategy is to connect knowledge from basic research and mechanistic studies to translational outcomes in human patients.
Awards and Honors
- Invited speaker “Future Leaders of Immunology Symposium”-Scripps Research Immunology & Microbiology, 2023
- Trainee Abstract selected for oral presentation, AAI, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2023
- Invited Handling Editor for special issue on Inflammasomes – Front. Dev. Biology, 2022
- Milstein Trainee award, ICIS, 2018, 2022
- GIRF Associates Broad Award, University of Chicago, 2018
- College of Natural Sciences completion fellowship, Michigan State University, 2014
- G. D. Edith Hsiung and Margaret E. Kimball Endowed, Michigan State University, 2013
- Dr. Marvis A. Richardson Endowed Fellowship, Michigan State University 2013
- Trainee travel award, Society of Leukocyte Biology, 2008
- College of Natural Sciences summer fellowship, Michigan State University
