News

MMI Welcomes: Please join us in welcoming Bahareh Ajami, Ph.D., as an assistant professor, to the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and the Department of Behavioral Neuroscience. Dr. Ajami’s research is focused on advancing our understanding of the function and biology of the brain’s intrinsic immune cells: microglia. 

Her previous work has established the fate and origin of microglia in the brain during health and disease. In her most recent work, by adopting a novel single-cell proteomics approach, CyTOF (mass cytometry), Dr. Ajami has demonstrated that microglia are a network of cells comprised of several subpopulations with distinct immune responses in different neurological disorders. This work has resulted in the discovery of a new therapeutic target for Multiple Sclerosis and ALS disease and has recently been licensed by a biotech company for further development. 

Drawing on her recent discovery of different microglia subsets combined with proteogenomics approaches and computational methods, Dr. Ajami’s research program will focus on understanding of microglia subset functional specialization and the mechanisms that control the functional identity of different subsets both in mice and humans. Her lab will examine how these regulations are changed in different neurodegenerative diseases such as ALD and AD, revealing their endowed capacity to induce distinct types of neurodegenerative diseases and designing novel strategies to target them for therapies. Welcome, Bahareh!

MMI Recognitions: Congratulations to Rosenzweig Lab! The lab has been awarded with NIH R01 funding, and Ruth Napier, Ph.D., has been awarded with the VA Career Development Award. 

Open position for an assistant professor: The Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, in collaboration with the Department of Behavioral Neuroscience, invites applications at the assistant professor level to work on the basic or translational aspects of neuroimmunology. See MMI Open Positions for details.

SOM News: Leadership team selected for new Ph.D. Program in Biomedical Sciences.

A new recruitment has been opened for the Dean’s Research Scholar Program (DRSP).  Applications are due by November 25, 2018.  For details on the program and application requirements click here.

MMI Recognitions: Congratulations to Ruth Napier, Ph.D., for getting awarded a Medical Research Foundation Grant for her project Investigation of NOD2 as a T cell intrinsic regulator of rheumatoid arthritis.

SOM News: Paths to Leadership and faculty development.

SOM News: Dr. Georgiana Purdy appointed to NIH Bacterial Pathogenesis Study Section.

MMI Recognitions: Congratulations to Tafesse lab. They've received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for their research project, Nanobodies as a Targeted-Therapeutic Against Mtb. Read more.

MMI Recognitions: Congratulations to Nolz Lab and Hill Lab. Their recently published article, Enzymatic synthesis of core 2 O-glycans governs the tissue-trafficking potential of memory CD8(+) T cells, has been recommended in F1000Prime for having special significance in its field.