Current Students
Students in the Graduate Training Program in Microbiology and Immunology of Infectious Diseases enjoy a vibrant, collegial research environment in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology and benefit from access to a rich selection of courses, seminars and data clubs structured to encourage interactions between students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty throughout the broader CUIMC community. We aim to provide a broad and sound education in the molecular biology and genetics of infectious disease and immunology, and rigorous research training in an environment dedicated to advancing biomedical science.
2023
Antonia Oduguwa
Antonia is currently rotating through department laboratories and is interested in studying regulation and protection from inflammation responses in immune and non-immune cells.
Amanda Simkhovich
Amanda is currently rotating through department laboratories and is interested in mucosal immunology and host-microbe interaction, especially within the context of chronic disease and infection.
Meera Singh
Meera is currently rotating through department laboratories and is interested in exploring immune pathways contributing to inflammation and immune dysregulation.
Raymond Zou
Raymond is currently rotating through department laboratories and is interested in studying adaptive immune mechanisms and cellular interactions in various disease contexts.
2022
Alyssa Gonzalez
Alyssa is a student in the laboratory of Anne Moscona and is interested in infectious disease research with translational potential such as the development of novel therapeutics and rapid diagnostics.
Dylan Mariuzza
Dylan is a student in the laboratory of Nicholas Arpaia and is interested in studying the role of T cells in cancer immunology, tumor immune cell interactions, and cancer immunotherapies.
Dominic Ritacco
Dominic is a student in the laboratory of Ryan Gaudet and is interested in investigating host-pathogen interactions and exploring the mechanisms of infectious disease.
Christine Wu
Christine is a student in the laboratory of Yuefeng (Tony) Huang, and is interested in immune cell migration, mucosal immunology, and the intersection between women's health and immunology.
2021
Frédérique van den Haak
Frédérique is a student in the laboratory of Jordan Orange and is interested in understanding the genetics of human diseases restricted to specific innate immune cell subsets.
Meseret Haile
Meseret is a student in the laboratory of Chi-Min Ho (Mimi) and studies the host-pathogen interactions of malaria parasites using cryo-electron microscopy.
Yasmeen Sherif Saad
Yasmeen is a student in the laboratory of Megan Sykes and is investigating how hematopoietic stem cells respond to conditional modifications of intrinsic and extrinsic factors related to hematopoiesis.
Hamna Shahnawaz
Hamna is a student in the laboratory of Ryan Gaudet, and is broadly interested in the intersection between immunity and infection, and the development of novel therapeutic modalities against diseases.
Lisa Yu
Lisa is a student in the lab of Anne-Catrin Uhlemann and studies the determinants of multidrug-resistant bacteria infection in transplant patients.
2020
Daniel Caron
Daniel is a student in the laboratory of Donna Farber, and is investigating how tissue specificity and aging affects macrophages and monocytes in humans.
Carly Lam
Carly is a student in the laboratory of Mimi Shirasu-Hiza, and studies circadian regulation of metabolism and immune tolerance.
Maria Patricia Nunez
Maria is a student in the laboratory of Anne-Catrin Uhlemann, and studies molecular mechanisms of intrinsic polymyxin resistance in the nosocomial pathogen Serratia marcescens.
Olivia Ringham
Olivia is a student in the laboratory of Nicholas Arpaia, and is investigating how cancer-associated mesenchymal cells influence anti-tumor immune responses in lung cancer.
2019
Ruxiao Tian
Ruxiao is a student in the laboratory of Sankar Ghosh, and is investigating how a lncRNA contributes to systemic lupus erythematosus pathogenesis.
Amber Wolabaugh
Amber is a student in the laboratory of Megan Sykes, and investigates macrophage and T cell interaction in the inflammatory response to SARS-CoV-2 infection using a human immune system mouse model.
Alexander Yang
Alexander is a student in the laboratory of Donna Farber, and studies the regulatory function of tissue-resident memory T cells (TRMs) in mediating the secondary antiviral immune response.
2018
Tyler Dorrity
Tyler is student in the laboratory of Hachung Chung, and studies interactions between the antiviral dsRNA sensor PKR and endogenous RNAs in order to better understand mechanisms regulating PKR activation.
Marla Giddins
Marla is a student in the laboratory of Alejandro Chavez, and uses high-throughput combinatorial protein engineering to create improved CRISPR transcriptional modulators.
Laura Hagenah
Laura is a student in the laboratory of David Fidock, and uses genetic and biochemical methods to understand mechanisms of first-line antimalarial resistance in Plasmodium falciparum.
Abigail Reed
Abigail is a student in the laboratory of Jordan Orange, and uses functional genomics to identify novel genetic causes of Natural Killer cell deficiencies.
2017
Madeline Edwards
Madeline is a student in the laboratory of Ivaylo Ivanov, and her research focuses on immune recognition and response to the intestinal microbiota.
Lucas Loffredo
Lucas is a student in the laboratory of Nicholas Arpaia, and studies how the immune system interacts with the body’s stem cells and structural cells to restore organ function after tissue damage.