Current:
I have joined Dr. Janko Nikolich-Zugich's lab and am currently working on characterizing the changes in naive T cell proliferation with age. I am also using this study to look at changes in surface markers and intracellular factors (transcription factors and secreted compounds) with aging. Finally, I am investigating the role of T cell receptor signaling in activating caspase-1.

Future:
In the future I hope to continue work on my CFSE proliferation project and follow up on interesting results I found when phenotyping human dendritic cells.

Past:
I graduated with a Bachalor's of Science in Biochemistry from Stony Brook University in May 2009.
While at Stony Brook, I worked in the Center of Infectious Disease. My project involved Francesella Tularensis and its specific interactions with the human Complement cascade. I spent my time trying to isolate and purify the bacterial protein. We used ELISA protein assays in high salt conditions to identify the specific binding, and western blot analysis to identify the suspect 32kb protein.

After joining the Department of Immunobiology in the Fall of 2009, I rotated through Dr. Felicia Goodrum's lab, Dr. Maggie So's lab in the winter and Dr. Janko Nikolich-Zugich's lab in the Spring of 2010. I gave my first thiry minute seminar in April and soon after joined Dr. Nikolich-Zugich's lab for the remainder of my graduate career.

Since then, I have presented my work at the Frontiers of Immunobiology and Immunopathogenesis Symposium and have given another departmental seminar.