November 7, 2018
Ashley Brate is the recipient of the 2019 spring Ada Louise Ballard and Seashore Dissertation Fellowship
The Ada Louise Ballard and Seashore Dissertation Fellowship is awarded to students during their final semester, providing protected and supported time to focus on completing their scholarly research activities and the writing of their dissertation. Ashley's dissertation has focused on multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune demyelinating disease of the central nervous system characterized by progressive disability. She has identified a subset of CD8+ T cells that is capable of suppressing, preventing and treating disease in animal models. The protective function of these cells can be boosted using a novel vaccination strategy. Ashley's research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of these cells and how to enhance them for use as a treatment for MS.
Alex Boyden receives National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) Travel Award to the 47th Annual Autumn Immunology Conference (AIC 2018)
As a postdoctoral researcher in Nitin Karandikar’s lab, Alex investigates the immunoregulatory mechanisms of CD8 T cells in the mouse model of multiple sclerosis. His abstract entitled “Early IFNγ-mediated and late perforin-mediated suppression of pathogenic CD4 T cell responses are both required for inhibition of demyelinating disease by CNS-specific autoregulatory CD8 T cells” describes Alex’s discovery that CNS-specific CD8 T cells must secrete two distinct effector molecules at two distinct times in order to achieve paralytic disease protection in mice. Alex will be recognized at an opening awards ceremony Friday, November 16th, preceding the keynote address at AIC in Chicago.