Investigating type 1 diabetes and the development of therapies using mouse models of the disease.
My research involves the development of therapies for treating type 1 diabetes in a humanized version of the NOD mouse. Using NOD mice in which the mouse MHC class I has been replaced with a human variant linked to type 1 diabetes development, I am studying how several therapies can tolerize autoreactive CD8+ T cells selected on the human HLA. The first project revolves around using hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and induction of mixed chimerism to determine how protective MHC can tolerize autoreactive CD8+ T cells. A second project revolves around peptide-microsphere conjugates and how dosing pre-diabetic humanized-NOD mice with diabetogenic peptides can prevent diabetes development, and the mechanisms by which autoreactive CD8+ T cells are tolerized by these peptide-microsphere conjugates. A final side project/collaboration involves dissecting the mechanisms by which IFNϒ can act as an inhibitory cytokine for autoreactive CD8+ T cell expansion.
2014-Current JAX Postdoctoral Scholar
2012 Rachmiel Levine Scientific Communications Award - 1st place Scientific Talk - “Reversal of T and B Cell Autoimmunity in Type 1 Diabetes via Induction of Mixed Chimerism”. Presentation at City of Hope Beckman Research Institute RSO Advance. April 30 2012. Lake Arrowhead, CA. 2008 Helen and Morgan Chu Graduate Student Fellowship
2007-2008 H.N. and Frances C. Berger Fellow
2012 Selected as Irell & Manella Nominee for Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Awards
2010 Selected as Irell & Manella Nominee for Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings
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