Contact Information
Program Director
- Co-Director, Immunology & Microbial Pathogenesis PhD Program
- Associate Professor
233 S. Tenth Street
Bluemle Life Sciences Building, Room 750
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Program Director
- Co-Director, Immunology & Microbial Pathogenesis PhD Program
- Associate Professor
233 S. 10th Street, 730 BLSB
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Program Coordinator
1020 Locust Street
M-46 JAH
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Connect with Us
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Current Students
Trevor Baybutt
Trevor.Baybutt@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2016
Thesis Advisor: Adam Snook, PhD
Project: Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. My project focuses on understanding how chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy can be implemented to treat metastatic colorectal cancer using patient-derived models.
Nathalia Benavides
Nathalia.Benavides@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2018
Thesis Advisor: Claudio Giraudo, PhD
Project: The synaptic membrane is highly dynamic and upon immune synapse polarization requires rapid replenishment as well as regulation of necessary lipids for continuous signaling. I am interested in characterizing the role of Extended-Synaptotagmins in human cytotoxic T lymphocytes during the immunological synapse formation.
Juliana Benitez
Juliana.Benitez@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2022
Thesis Advisor: Luis Sigal, PhD
Project: I am researching the mechanisms and cell populations responsible for antigen presentation to CD8 T-cells after mRNA vaccination.
Emilee Brockner
Emilee.Brockner@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2023
Thesis Advisor: TBD
Project: TBD
Tien Bui
Tien.Bui@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Summer 2023
Thesis Advisor: Ziaur Rahman, PhD
Project: My project focuses on understanding the regulatory mechanisms of an E3 ubiquitin ligase Peli1 in systemic autoimmunity development using various SLE mouse models. Specifically, I will be investigating its potential role in regulating autoreactive B cell development in the germinal center or extrafollicular plasma cell differentiation pathway.
Miao Cao (MD/PhD)
Miao.Cao@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Summer 2022
Thesis Advisor: Adam Snook, PhD
Project: TBD
Jihae Choi
Jihae.Choi@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Summer 2022
Thesis Advisor: Sangwon Kim, PhD
Project: TBD
Vincent Cooper
Vincent.Cooper@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2022
Thesis Advisor: Botond Igyártó, PhD
Project: Mechanistic studies of contact dependent mRNA transfer between dendritic cells and their neighbors.
Jacqueline Flynn
Jaqueline.Flynn@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Summer 2022
Thesis Advisor: Claudia Capparelli, PhD
Project: My project focuses on characterizing extracellular matrix remodeling in drug-tolerant, phenotypically mesenchymal cell states in melanoma as a mechanism of adaptive resistance to therapies and targeting resistant cell populations to boost CD8+ T cell infiltration to the tumor immune microenvironment.
Soprina Guarneri
Soprina.Guarneri@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2023
Thesis Advisor: TBD
Project: TBD
Christopher Herbst
Christopher.Herbst@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2019
Thesis Advisor: Botond Igyártó, PhD
Project: TBD
Zachary Hutchins
Zachary.Hutchins@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Summer 2021
Thesis Advisor: Christopher Snyder, PhD
Project: TBD
Samita Kafle
Samita.Kafle@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2020
Thesis Advisor: Luis Sigal, PhD
Project: I study the role of innate immunity, particularly Type I and III Interferons, in controlling Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) pathogenesis, a non-polio enterovirus that is the leading cause of viral myocarditis in children, by using specific Interferon-Knockout mouse models.
Saul Kushinsky (MD/PhD)
Saul.Kushinsky@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Summer 2016
Thesis Advisor: Christine Eischen, PhD
Project: I am focusing on understanding the contributions of the DNA replication stress response to hematopoiesis and the effects of different replication stressors on developing hematopoietic cells.
Christine Linton
Christine.Linton@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2020
Thesis Advisor: Fabienne Paumet, PhD
Project: Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular pathogen responsible for significant disease burden as a sexually transmitted infection and as the leading cause of infectious blindness. This bacterial pathogen survives inside its host cell, causing dramatic cellular rearrangements to establish an inclusion in which to grow, replicate, and evade host immune detection. My project focuses on a chlamydial fusion protein involved in inclusion dynamics and the functional consequences of inclusion fusion on pathogenesis.
Jessica McCord
Jessica.McCord@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2021
Thesis Advisor: Christopher Snyder, PhD
Project: TBD
Shannon Mcgettigan
Shannon.Mcgettigan@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2016
Thesis Advisor: Gudrun Debes, PhD
Project: IL-10 producing B cells are important in regulating the immune response in autoimmune diseases and cancers, but the signals that control their development are not well understood. I am studying the mechanisms through which IL-10 positive B cells are generated and maintained.
Jesse Miller
Jesse.Miller@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2023
Thesis Advisor: TBD
Project: TBD
Jacob Myers (MD/PhD)
Jacob.Myers@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Summer 2023
Thesis Advisor: Matthias Schnell, PhD
Project: TBD
Daniel Netting
Daniel.Netting@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2021
Thesis Advisor: Adriana Mantegazza, PhD
Project: Professional phagocytes, such as dendritic cells and macrophages, must be able to sense and transport nutrients in the phagosome in order to better recognize and respond to phagosomal cargo. My research is centered around the role of nucleoside transport in the dendritic cell lysosome and phagosome, mediated by solute carrier 29A3, and how nucleoside transport contributes to the induction and regulation of immune responses.
Gerald O'Connor
Gerald.O'Connor@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2021
Thesis Advisor: Sangwon Kim, PhD
Project: C10ORF99 is a protein that is highly expressed in the colon at steady state and functions as the homing ligand for GPR15-expressing cells. In addition to its function as GPR15’s ligand, there is also evidence from skin studies that C10ORF99 has GPR15-independent functions. However, in vivo studies regarding its GPR15-independent roles in the colon, specifically as they relate to inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer, have been lacking. My project addresses this knowledge gap around C10ORF99’s GPR15-independent functions as they relate to colon homeostasis.
Mary O'Mara
Mary.O'Mara@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Summer 2022
Thesis Advisor: Holly Ramage, PhD
Project: My project explores the molecular interactions between viral and host proteins during flavivirus infection to identify novel mechanisms of host antiviral immunity and viral immune evasion.
Sergey Panteleev
Sergey.Panteleev@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2021
Thesis Advisor: Yuri Sykulev, PhD
Project: TBD
Shantel Rios
Shantel.Rios@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2019
Thesis Advisor: Matthias Schnell, PhD
Project: My project aids in the development of Rhabdoviral-based Lyme disease vaccines utilizing Borrelia burgdorferi and deer tick antigens.
Nathan Ryan
Nathan.Ryan@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2020
Thesis Advisor: David Abraham, PhD
Project: Onchocerciasis is a debilitating neglected tropical disease caused by the filarial nematode Onchocerca volvulus. Over the past several years, the Abraham Lab and various collaborators have developed a bivalent, recombinant antigen vaccine that has been shown to induce a protective immune response in various animal models. My project aims to understand the mechanism in which the Onchocerca Vaccine induces protective immunity and how this knowledge can be applied to understanding the broader interaction between the immune system and parasitic nematodes.
Sydney Salas
Sydney.Salas@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2023
Thesis Advisor: TBD
Project: TBD
Carly Smith
Carly.Smith2@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2021
Thesis Advisor: Theresa Freeman, PhD
Project: I am investigating the use of cold atmospheric plasma for treatment of orthopedic infection by exploring its role in reducing bacterial pathogenesis and enhancing the innate immune response
Lauren Springer
Lauren.Springer@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Summer 2018
Thesis Advisor: Christopher Snyder, PhD
Project: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) establishes lifelong infection through viral latency and persistence in mucosal tissues, but the mechanisms are not well understood. I am investigating the role of specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators, which modulate tissue homeostasis, on CMV persistence in mucosal tissue, particularly focusing on the nasal mucosa.
Zachary Walter
Zachary.Walter@students.jefferson.edu
Matriculation Term: Fall 2020
Thesis Advisor: Holly Ramage, PhD
Project: TBD
Recent Graduates
2023/2024
Adam Haines
Thesis Title: “Chlamydia trachomatis coordinates distinct cytoskeletal elements to regulate its virulence”
Thesis Advisor: Fabienne Paumet, PhD
2022/2023
John Flickinger (MD/PhD)
Thesis Title: “Guanylyl Cyclase C Vaccines for Secondary Prevention of Metastatic Colorectal Cancer”
Advisor: Adam Snook, PhD
Current Position: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), Research Residency
Daniel Hwang
Thesis Title: “CSF-1 maintains pathogenic but not homeostatic myeloid cells in the central nervous system during autoimmune neuroinflammation.”
Thesis Advisor: Abdolmohamad Rostami, MD, PhD
Brian Montoya
Thesis Title: “Studies on the role of necroptosis proteins RIPK3 and MLKL in resistance to viral infection and on the role of CD8 T-cells induced by mRNA-LNP vaccines in protection from SARS-CoV-2 in mice”
Thesis Advisor: Luis Sigal, PhD
Gabrielle (Gabby) Scher
Thesis Title: “Development of Rhabdoviral-based Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Vaccines”
Thesis Advisor: Matthias Schnell, PhD
Catherine Yankowski
Thesis Title: “Formulation of the Rabies Virus Vaccine Vector Against Emerging Viruses”
Advisor: Matthias Schnell, PhD
Current Position: TBD
2021/2022
Gabriela Cosma
Thesis Title: “Protein trafficking and unchaperoned translation during a viral infection determine antigen processing outcomes for MHC class I direct presentation”
Advisor: Laurence Eisenlohr, PhD
2020/2021
Christine Fisher
Thesis Title: “Development and characterization of a broadly protective lyssavirus vaccine”
Advisor: Matthias Schnell, PhD
Colby Stotesbury
Thesis Title: “Defects of the Innate Immune System Contribute to Age-related Susceptibility to Mousepox”
Advisor: Luis Sigal, PhD
2019/2020
Shannon Haley (MD/PhD)
Thesis Title: “Elucidating Regulatory Mechanisms of B Cell Responses to Recombinant Rabies Vaccination by Expression of the TNF Family Cytokine BAFF or APRIL”
Advisor: James McGettigan, PhD
Javad Rasouli
Thesis Title: “ThG Cells: A Distinct T Helper Cell Subset with Lineage Characteristics”
Advisor: Abdolmohamad Rostami, MD, PhD
Nicole Wilski
Thesis Title: “Murine Cytomegalovirus Promotes Anti-Tumor Immunity in a Melanoma Model by Recruiting Macrophages and Inducing Inflammation Through STING Signaling”
Advisor: Christopher Snyder, PhD
2018/2019
Tara Abraham
Thesis Title: “Targeting mechanisms of GUCY2C-specific tolerance for cancer immunotherapy”
Advisor: Scott Waldman, MD, PhD
Samantha Garcia
Thesis Title: “Long-term Protection Against a Pathogenic Wild-type RABV CNS Challenge and the Establishment of Tissue Resident Long-lived Effector Cells During Immunization”
Advisor: D. Craig Hooper, PhD