Graduate Student
Center For Transplantation Sciences
My graduate thesis work was on defining a role for MyD88, a molecule traditionally implicated in innate immune signaling, as a critical molecule in T cells, specifically T regulatory cells (Tregs) during the response to allografts. I discovered that while naïve T cells require MyD88 for their survival following activation, MyD88 is surprisingly dispensable for Treg survival. Despite this, mice that lack MyD88 in only their Tregs are resistant to the skin allograft prolonging effects of rapamycin and anti-CD154 in a model where Treg presence is required, suggesting that MyD88-deficient Tregs are functionally-deficient (independent of a defect in cell survival) during the response to alloantigen.During my graduate training, I continued to use my expertise in multi-color (13+ parameters) flow cytometry and cell sorting experiment design and analysis (FlowJo and FACSDiva) to conduct experiments as efficiently as possible. I am proficient in operation of a Beckman Coulter Navios, BD LSR II, BD LSR Fortessa, BD Accuri and FACS Aria II cytometers. I am proficient in the harvest of primary and secondary lymphoid organs as well as enzymatic digestion of skin, brain, spinal cord and gut tissues from mice for analysis of leukocyte populations by flow cytometry, western blot and/or in vitro culture. I have expertise in murine surgery including skin transplantation and lymphadenectomy. I am proficient in immunofluorescence imaging (frozen sections and/or formalin fixed paraffin imbedded) of lymphoid organs, skin, and skin grafts. I am proficient in the isolation (MACs, Easy Sep and/or FACS), adoptive transfer and subsequent tracking of CD4, CD8 and regulatory T cells into T cell deficient (Rag-/-) and lympho-repleat mice (syngeneic and allogeneic). I also trained numerous graduate rotation students and undergraduate students on the above techniques and also helped them advance their scientific presentation and communication skills.
