Immunopaedia Ambassadors – North America
Our Ambassadors from across Northern America.
What is your name?
Jinal Nomathemba Bhiman
What is your current position?
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Which institute and country do you work in?
The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, USA
What is your home country?
South Africa
What are your research interests?
HIV vaccine research, host-pathogen interactions, B cell development
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I began my scientific career as a student at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg, South Africa. This was the first time I was exposed to “real” research with aims that were both descriptive and hypothesis-driven and with outcomes that were unknown and intriguing. This foray into host-pathogens interactions in the context of HIV-1 infection, initiated my interest in HIV vaccine design. Since then I completed my MSc and PhD degrees in South Africa and am currently a postdoc at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, USA.
My PhD research investigated how viral evolution during HIV infection can lead to the initiation and maturation of broadly neutralizing antibodies, which are the antibodies likely needed for a preventative HIV vaccine. My postdoctoral research is translating the basic immunology hypotheses generated from my PhD through immunogen design and development of immunization strategies. In addition, I am also keen on defining the sites of immunodominance on the soluble HIV envelope trimer constructs that we are using as immunogens.
Upon completion of my postdoctoral training, I hope to return to my home country to continue my academic career and to pay it forward by training the next generation of African scientists.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn – Jinal Bhiman
ResearchGate – Jinal Bhiman
Immunology Keywords: HIV, immunogens, vaccines
What is your name?
Aquiles Ranferi Ocaña Guzmán
What is your current position?
PhD Candidate and Research Associate
Which institute and country do you work in?
National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
What is your home country?
Mexico
What are your research interests?
Innate immunity, Infectious diseases, Respiratory diseases
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I currently work as associated researcher, and I’m finishing my Ph.D. studies at UNAM. My work is about macrophages regulation through the Tim-3 receptor. Additional collaborations include Kaposi’s sarcoma, lung aging, and tuberculosis/HIV co-infection. Our laboratory is focused on the study of immune response and respiratory diseases and related topics such as: TB, macrophage function and regulation, HIV, exosomes function and lymphocyte biology. In this group, several researchers work to investigate related immune mechanisms implicated in respiratory health and we have interdisciplinary collaborations with other groups at INER and UNAM, as well as institutions from other countries. We perform flow cytometry, PCR, ELISA, immunoprecipitation, SDS-PAGE, WB, cell sorting and other immunology related assays.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn – Ranferi Ocaña Guzman
ResearchGate – Ranferi Ocaña
Immunology Keywords: Macrophage, Innate immunity, Mycobacterium tuberculosis/HIV co-infection
What is your name?
Sergey Yegorov
What is your current position?
PhD candidate
Which institute and country do you work in?
University of Toronto, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Immunology, Toronto, Canada
What is your home country?
Kazakhstan and Canada
What are your research interests?
Immunology and epidemiology of schistosomiasis, HIV and malaria
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I’m a PhD student in Dr. Rupert Kaul’s laboratory at the University of Toronto. My current research explores the impact of schistosomiasis and malaria on mucosal immunology and HIV susceptibility in a clinical trial based in Central Uganda, and in a mouse model. Outside of academia, I have a passion for martial arts and I love spending time in nature with friends and family.
What are your online profiles?
ResearchGate – Sergey Yegorov
LinkedIn – Sergey Yegorov
Impactstory – Sergey Yegorov
Immunology Keywords: Mucosal immunity, HIV, schistosomiasis
What is your name?
Laura Cook
What is your current position?
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Which institute and country do you work in?
BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
What is your home country?
Australia
What are your research interests?
Regulatory CD4+ T cells, Infectious Disease, Autoimmune Disease
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I have been conducting research in the field of human immunology since 2009. I completed my PhD in 2014 which focused on the role of regulatory T cells (Tregs) in chronic infectious diseases and celiac disease. I then commenced a postdoctoral fellowship in Megan Leving’s lab in Vancouver, Canada where I am currently undertaking two main research projects. The first project is investigating whether toxin-specific CD4+ T cells can predict clinical outcome in patients with C. difficile infection. The second is optimising cell therapy for inflammatory bowel disease. I am assessing which Treg cell population will be most suitable for cell therapy by comparing peripheral blood FOXP3+ Tregs against the IL-10 producing Treg subset, obtained by a novel isolation method, or Tregs generated using a parasite-derived TGFbeta-mimic molecule.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn – Laura Cook
Immunology Keywords: Flow Cytometry, Regulatory T cells, CD4+ T cells
What is your name?
Jennifer Enciso García
What is your current position?
PhD Student, Biochemical Sciences
Which institute and country do you work in?
CIBIOR, Mexican Institute for Social Security, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City, Mexico
What is your home country?
Mexico
What are your research interests?
Systems Immunology, Acute lymphoblastc leukemia, Tumor microenvironment
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I received my B.Sc. and M.Sc. from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 2013 and 2015. I am currently pursuing my Ph.D in Biochemistry with a focus in systems biology applied on hematological diseases, more specifically acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Since my Masters project I’ve been working in the development of a computational discrete model representing some of the main intercellular communication pathways between hematopoietic primitive cells and the bone marrow niche cells in order to understand how they are involved in leukemia maintenance and progression. I am dedicated to the study of bone marrow microenvironment remodelation in ALL towards a proinflammatory state and its participation in the establishment of feedback loops among different sub-systems (eg. Inflammatory cues, stromal cells, leukemic cells and normal hematopoietic cells). The pro-inflammatory microenvironment may be the key factor which “tilt the balance” in the competition between normal and cancer cell populations in the leukemic bone marrow. On the other hand, through the discrete model I also want to probe the hypothesis about the role of inflammatory hits in the initial stages of B-ALL development perturbing the proliferation-differentiation balance.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn – Jennifer Enciso Garcia
ResearchGate – Jennifer Enciso
Immunology Keywords: Cytokines, TLRs, RAG
What is your name?
Cristina Artaza Irigaray
What is your current position?
PhD Student- Biomedical Sciences/ Immunology PhD
Which institute and country do you work in?
Immunology department at Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Occidente (CIBO),
Mexican Institute of Social Security, Guadalajara, Mexico
What is your home country?
Spain
What are your research interests?
Virology, Molecular Biology, Oncoimmunology
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I studied Biotechnology at the Universidad de León (Spain) and I did my Masters in Biomedical Sciences at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). I am currently doing my last semester of PhD at Universidad de Guadalajara (Mexico) and I carry out my research project at the Mexican Institute of Social Security (CIBO-IMSS). My research focuses on cervical cancer immunology, particularly on how human papillomavirus oncoproteins affect cytokine release by keratinocytes. I am very interested on learning more about oncoimmunology and meeting scientists in the field to share our knowledge and passion for science.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn – Cristina Artaza Irigaray
ResearchGate – Cristina Artaza-Irigaray
Immunology Keywords: Oncoimmunology, Cytokines, Innate Immunity
What is your name?
Oscar Medina-Contreras
What is your current position?
Associate Professor
Which institute and country do you work in?
Immunology and Proteomics Laboratory, Mexico’s Children Hospital, Mexico City, Mexico
What is your home country?
Mexico
What are your research interests?
Mucosal immunology, Intestinal Macrophages, Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I have performed research in the immune system for over 10 years. I am an associate professor in the Immunology and Proteomics laboratory at Mexico’s Children Hospital in Mexico City. I had a 5-year postdoctoral appointment at Emory University School of Medicine and Georgia State University Institute for Biomedical Sciences. I received my PhD in Molecular Biomedicine from CINVESTAV.
I have a keen interest in inflammation. My primary research interests involve mucosal inflammation, with a major focus on the evaluation of macrophages and T cell responses in murine models of colitis. I am interested in how mucosal antigen presenting cells modulate intestinal tolerance, reacting to innate triggers, while shaping tolerogenic immune responses that prevent intestinal inflammation.
What are your online profiles?
ResearchGate – Oscar Medina
Scopus – Oscar Medina
Immunology Keywords: Intestine, APCs, T cells
What is your name?
Juan Carlos Balandrán Juárez
What is your current position?
PhD Student, Molecular Biomedicine
Which institute and country do you work in?
Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico City, Mexico
What is your home country?
Mexico
What are your research interests?
Leukemia-initiating cells, tumor micronvironment, Oncoimmunology
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
The major interest of the laboratory where I have been trained for the last years is the study of early hematopoietic differentiation of lymphoid cells in the pathogenesis of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. My studies have focused on the role of the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment in the origin, maintenance and immunosurveillance of abnormal cell production using stromal cell 2-D co-culture systems. However, I have extended our findings to more natural architecture and developed novel three-dimensional organoid-like structures using human BM mesenchymal stromal cells and leukemic cells derived from ALL patients, which better mimics the cellular interactions between hematopoieic cells and their niches. By using this powerful ex-vivo model, my major goal is to understand the pathobiology of the leukemic niche and the microenvironmental regulation of leukemic cell population dynamics within malignant BM. Of note, I have special in investigating the tumor microenvironment-associated drug resistance of primitive leukemia-initiating cells (LICs), for this proposal, I will bring in my expertise in human-human personalized 3D system construction, multiparameter flow cytometry, confocal microscopy and xenotransplantation modeling to develop a high-throughput system that will provide a unique way to discover new therapies that target LICs in the context of their supportive niche.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn – JC Balandran
Researchgate – Juan Balandran
Immunology Keywords: Leukemia, hematopoiesis, oncoimmunology
What is your name?
Rebecca Ng
What is your current position?
Undergraduate Researcher
Which institute and country do you work in?
University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
What is your home country?
Canada
What are your research interests?
Microbiome and gut immunology, Child health and disease, Global health and inequities
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I am currently an undergraduate student studying at the University of Toronto. I am pursuing an Honours Bachelors of Science with a double major in Nutritional Sciences and Human Biology: Global Health. In my third year, I conducted a probiotic microbiology project in a microbiome research lab, where I evaluated the effect of vitamin D on a Bacillus probiotic and its gene expression. I am interested in learning about a wide variety of diseases and health challenges throughout the world. In the summer of 2017, I travelled to Cape Town, South Africa through the Canadian Queen Elizabeth Scholarship program to perform research in HIV immune regulation within the South African context. My research included investigating Langerhans cells, specialized cells implicated in HIV transmission, extracted from adult and newborn foreskin. Immunology is a crucial area of research, where our current knowledge has allowed several advancements within society. Further investment and dissemination of knowledge can empower fellow immunologists and policy makers to increase awareness and enact change.
Immunology Keywords: Microbiome, HIV, Langerhans cells
What is your name?
Maxwell Chan
What is your current position?
Undergraduate Researcher
Which institute and country do you work in?
University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
What is your home country?
Canada
What are your research interests?
HIV, Allergy, Infectious disease
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I am currently pursuing a Honours Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Toronto with a double major in Physiology and Immunology. After being awarded the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Scholarship, I interned at the University of Cape Town to conduct research on HIV. My research focused on T cells extracted from epidermal foreskin tissue. Using flow cytometry, I investigated the difference in immunophenotypes between T cells extracted with different protocols: spontaneous migration and enzyme digestion. As the main target of HIV, CD4+ T cells remain an important field of study in HIV treatment and prevention.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn – Maxwell Chan
Immunology Keywords: HIV, Flow cytometry, Autoimmune disease
What is your name?
Sara Suliman
What is your current position?
Postdoctoral Scientist
Which institute and country do you work in?
Brigham and Women’s Hospital & Harvard Medical School
What is your home country?
Sudan
What are your research interests?
Natural immunity to Tuberculosis, Tuberculosis vaccines and biomarkers, Biology of CD1 and CD1-restricted T cells in Tuberculosis
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I am a Sudanese Postdoctoral Scientist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital & Harvard Medical School. I obtained my PhD in Immunology from the University of Toronto in 2012, where I studied Notch signalling in normal and leukaemogenic T cell development. I decided to switch to infectious disease immunology, and started a first postdoctoral fellowship at the South African TB Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) at the University of Cape Town. In Cape Town, I focused on biomarkers of TB progression, and dissecting vaccine-induced innate and adaptive immune responses. I am currently based at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and specialize in the field of CD1-restricted T cell responses in the context of TB infection and disease. I hope to return to Africa as an independent scientist and work in immunology capacity development to help train a generation of African scientific leaders, specializing in the immunology of infectious diseases.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn – Sara Suliman
ResearchGate – Sara Suliman
Immunology Keywords: Tuberculosis, vaccinology, CD1
What is your name?
José L. Maravillas-Montero
What is your current position?
Associate Professor
Which institute and country do you work in?
National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico
What is your home country?
Mexico
What are your research interests?
B cell biology, Tetraspanins, Autoimmune disease
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I was awarded with a PhD in molecular biomedicine in 2012 at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (CINVESTAV). I worked for a couple of years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Immunology from the University of California, Irvine, focusing on chemokines and its receptors. I am now an Associate Professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) based at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition “Salvador Zubirán”, leading my own group with a special interest in human B cell molecular biology in health and disease.
What are your online profiles?
ORCID – Jose Luis Maravillas
ResearchGate – Jose Maravillas Montero
Red de Apoyo a la Investigacion – rai.unam.mx
Immunology Keywords: B cell, tetraspanin, cytoskeleton
