News and Events

Ten students presented their research projects at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology's Graduate Student Research Forum on February 8. Raj K. Tiwari, Ph.D., standing far right, professor and graduate program director in the department, Ira Schwartz, Ph.D., seated far left, professor and department chairman, joined the panel of judges, seated from left: Abraham Mittelman, M.D., clinical associate professor of medicine and sponsor of the forum, Alberto Nasjletti, M.D., professor and director of the Ph.D. program in pharmacology; Jana Velíšková, M.D., Ph.D., professor of cell biology and anatomy, and obstetrics and gynecology. 

The presenters were, standing from left were:

Ahd Mansour
“Development of a Multivalent Subunit Vaccine Against Tularemia using Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV) Based Delivery Systems”

Anvita Gupta
“Implications of Androgen Receptor Activation on Thyroid Cancer Phenotype”

Sanjukta Chakraborty
“Immunomodulatory Molecules in Thyroid Cancer – Widening the Boundaries of Currently Available Targeted Therapies”

Travis Shute
“Uptake of an Intranasal Subunit Vaccine for Yersinia pestis”

Christina D’Arco
“Development of an Antigen-Capture Assay for Babesia microti in Transfusion Blood”

Rachana Maniyar
“Co-stimulatory and Co-inhibitory Molecules in Melanoma: A Comprehensive Screen and Implications for Therapy”

Maha Alqahtani
“Outer Membrane Protein SilC of Francisella Tularensis is Required for Resistance Against Oxidative Stress and Virulence in Mice”

Ragavan Varadharajan Suresh
“NLRP3 increases susceptibility to infection caused by Francisella tularensis” 

Dina Marghani
“Understanding Stress Response Regulation Mechanisms of F. tularensis”

Timmy O’Connell
“Androgen Receptor Stimulation with 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT) Decreases PD-L1 Expression in an Androgen-responsive Thyroid Cancer Model”

Not pictured:
Harshada Ketkar
“UBXN6 Positively Regulates Antiviral Immune Response in Arbovirus Infections”