The American Association of Immunologists Announces 2022 Recipients of the Careers in Immunology Fellowships

The American Association of Immunologists (AAI) announced its 2022 recipients of the AAI Careers in Immunology Fellowships.

Established in 2014, this program supports the career development of young scientists by providing eligible principal investigators with one year of salary support for a trainee in their labs. The program strives to support labs with limited funding or those in need of bridge funding between grants—and this critical support often enables groundbreaking research to continue.

This year, AAI awarded fellowships to 21 recipients. Congratulations go to:

• Estelle Bettelli, Ph.D. (AAI ’04), Associate Member, Benaroya Research Institute
  Trainee: Yevgeniy Yuzefpolskiy, Ph.D. (AAI ’22), Postdoctoral Fellow
  Project: Understanding the role of resident memory T cells in CNS autoimmunity
• Antje Blumenthal, Ph.D. (AAI ’17), Professor, University of Queensland, Australia
  Trainee: Carmen D. Mathmann, Ph.D. (AAI ’19), Postdoctoral Fellow
  Project: Molecular regulation of bacteria-induced inflammatory responses
• Philip B. Busbee, Ph.D. (AAI ’19), Assistant Professor, University of South Carolina School of Medicine
  Trainee: Archana Saxena, Ph.D. (AAI ’21), Postdoctoral Fellow
  Project: Role of AhR in colonic epithelial cells during I3C-mediated protection against colitis
• Shannon A. Carty, M.D. (AAI ’19), Assistant Professor, University of Michigan
  Trainee: Luis O. Correa (AAI ’22), Graduate Student
  Project: Role of ER-associated degradation in effector CD8⁺ T cell survival
• Ritu Chakravarti, Ph.D. (AAI ’18), Assistant Professor, University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences
  Trainee: Rathinam Ayyasamy, Ph.D. (AAI ’22), Postdoctoral Fellow
  Project: Understanding the role of 14-3-3 in inflammatory arthritis
• Angela M. Christiano, Ph.D. (AAI ’21), Professor, Columbia University
  Trainee: Yuqian Chang, Ph.D. (AAI ’22), Postdoctoral Fellow
  Project: Role of CX3CR1⁺CD8⁺ T cells in alopecia areata
• Meena Jaggi, Ph.D. (AAI ’19), Professor, University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley
  Trainee: Swati Dhasmana, Ph.D. (AAI ’22), Postdoctoral Fellow
  Project: MUC13 based multi-epitopes nano-vaccine for liver cancer
• George S. Karagiannis, D.V.M., Ph.D. (AAI ’22), Assistant Professor, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
  Trainee: Maria Lagou, D.V.M. (AAI ’21), Postdoctoral Fellow
  Project: The role of CXCL12 in endogenous repair following chemotherapy-induced thymic involution
• Martin Kast, Ph.D. (AAI ’97), Professor, University of Southern California, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
  Trainee: Ruben Prins (AAI ’22), Graduate Student
  Project: The role of IL17 and IL23 in HPV-driven tumor immune escape
• Michael D. Kornberg, M.D., Ph.D. (AAI ’22), Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University
  Trainee: Wesley H. Godfrey (AAI ’21), Graduate Student
  Project: Effects of a ketogenic diet on immune function
• Lin-Xi Li, Ph.D. (AAI ’15), Associate Professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
  Trainee: Miguel A.B. Mercado (AAI ’20), Graduate Student
  Project: Transcription factor Bhlhe40 and cytotoxic CD4 T cells: novel players in protective immunity to Chlamydia
• Cindy S. Ma, Ph.D. (AAI ’21), Associate Professor, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Australia
  Trainee: Antoine M. Guerin, Ph.D. (AAI ’22), Postdoctoral Fellow
  Project: Harnessing inborn errors of immunity to understand and treat human allergic disease
• Penelope A. Morel, M.D. (AAI ’93), Professor, University of Pittsburgh
  Trainee: Tristan Al White (AAI ’19), Graduate Student
  Project: Understanding how Akt phosphorylation of hnRNPA1 and hnRNPL modulates T cell fate and function
• Laura Piccio, M.D., Ph.D. (AAI ’22), Associate Professor, University of Sydney, Australia
  Trainee: Monokesh Kumer Sen, Ph.D. (AAI ’22), Postdoctoral Fellow
  Project: Potential role of the butyrate-GPR109A pathway in mediating the beneficial effects of fasting in a model of multiple sclerosis
• Parvathi Ranganathan, Ph.D. (AAI ’17), Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University
  Trainee: Katiri J. Snyder (AAI ’22), Graduate Student
  Project: Investigating the role of prohibitin in acute graft-versus-host disease
• Jim J. Song, Ph.D. (AAI ’03), Professor, Texas A&M University Health Science Center
  Trainee: Jugal K. Das, Ph.D. (AAI ’22), Postdoctoral Fellow
  Project: Designing and improving the efficacy of antigen-specific Treg cells for treatment of type 1 diabetes mellitus in non-obese diabetic mice
• Sara A. Suliman, Ph.D., M.P.H. (AAI ’20), Assistant Professor, University of California, San Francisco
  Trainee: Josephine F. Reijneveld, Ph.D. (AAI ’22), Postdoctoral Fellow
  Project: Impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection on risk of TB disease and anti-mycobacterial immunity
• Xiaolei Tang, M.D., Ph.D. (AAI ’14), Associate Professor, Long Island University College of Veterinary Medicine
  Trainee: FNU Shaikh Nisar Ali, Ph.D. (AAI ’22), Postdoctoral Fellow
  Project: The role of zinc in the immune regulatory function of 1,25(OH)2D and retinoic acid
• Shipra Vaishnava, Ph.D. (AAI ’18), Assistant Professor, Brown University
  Trainee: Geongoo Han, Ph.D. (AAI ’22), Postdoctoral Fellow
  Project: Regulation of vitamin A metabolism by gut bacteria
• Stefanie N. Vogel, Ph.D. (AAI ’80), Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine
  Trainee: Alexandra M. Vlk (AAI ’20), Graduate Student
  Project: Innate immune mechanisms contributing to inflammatory bowel disease severity
• Andrew J. Wiemer, Ph.D. (AAI ’14), Associate Professor, University of Connecticut
  Trainee: Xueting Huang (AAI ’22), Graduate Student
  Project: Discovery of TIGIT inhibitors for improving ovarian cancer immunotherapy

About The American Association of Immunologists
Founded in 1913, The American Association of Immunologists (www.aai.org) is an association of professionally trained scientists from all over the world dedicated to advancing the knowledge of immunology and its related disciplines. AAI members have been responsible for some of the most significant immunological discoveries of the past century, including the development of cancer immunotherapies, monoclonal antibodies, transplant technologies, and dozens of life-saving vaccines. The organization counts 27 Nobel Laureates among its members. AAI owns and publishes The Journal of Immunology, the oldest and most established journal in the field, as well as ImmunoHorizons, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the science of immunology.

Contact Information
Bethany Coulter, M.A.
AAI Director of Communications
301-452-5416
[email protected]