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
Laboratory: 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
Laboratory: 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.
Adam Haines
Adam.Haines@students.jefferson.edu
Laboratory: Fabienne Paumet, PhD
Project: The eukaryotic cytoskeleton is an incredibly dynamic system that is vital to the proper function of the cell, and has subsequently become a common target for many pathogenic bacteria. Chlamydia trachomatis, the most frequently reported sexually transmitted disease, manipulates the host cytoskeleton to enhance its survival and pathogenicity. I am studying the molecular machinery that Chlamydia utilizes to reorganize the cytoskeleton in an attempt to better understand its complex survival strategies.
Christopher Herbst
Christopher.Herbst@students.jefferson.edu
Laboratory: Botond Igyártó, PhD
Project: TBD
Zachary Hutchins
Zachary.Hutchins@students.jefferson.edu
Laboratory: Christopher Snyder, PhD
Project: TBD
Daniel Hwang
Daniel.Hwang@students.jefferson.edu
Laboratory: Abdolmohamad Rostami, MD, PhD
Project: Myeloid cells are the most prevalent cell type found in active lesions in the brains of multiple sclerosis patients. My research interests are in understanding how myeloid cells mediate pathology in multiple sclerosis and developing methods for targeting them in a clinical setting.
Saul Kushinsky (MD/PhD)
Saul.Kushinsky@students.jefferson.edu
Laboratory: 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
Laboratory: 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
Laboratory: Christopher Snyder, PhD
Project: TBD
Shannon Mcgettigan
Shannon.Mcgettigan@students.jefferson.edu
Laboratory: 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.
Daniel Netting
Daniel.Netting@students.jefferson.edu
Laboratory: Adriana Mantegazza, PhD
Project: TBD
Shantel Rios
Shantel.Rios@students.jefferson.edu
Laboratory: 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
Laboratory: 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.
Gabrielle (Gabby) Scher
Gabrielle.Scher@students.jefferson.edu
Laboratory: Matthias Schnell, PhD
Project: I'm developing Rhabdoviral-based vaccines against Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus and investigating the immune responses elicited by my vaccine.
Lauren Springer
Lauren.Springer@students.jefferson.edu
Laboratory: 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.
Catherine Yankowski
Catherine.Yankowski@students.jefferson.edu
Laboratory: Matthias Schnell, PhD
Project: I am investigating the correlates of protection to a Rabies virus-based Ebola vaccine.
Recent Graduates
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: MD/PhD 8, JeffMD Phase 3, SKMC 4
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