IMM T32

The Research Training in Experimental Immunology T32 has had an enormous and widespread impact at UM by fostering the development of the Graduate Program in Immunology (GPI), providing a cohesive infrastructure to bring multidisciplinary researchers from across campus together to facilitate collaborations on problems of immunologic importance, stimulating immunology-related faculty recruitment and providing outstanding research and mentoring support to meet the growing demands of students and post-doctoral fellows wanting to prepare for immunology-related careers. UM’s Immunology T32 was initially funded by an NIAID grant awarded in 1993. The 1993 application played an important and cohesive role in bonding immunology research laboratories located in various administrative homes across the medical school and involved faculty scientists and trainees who were associated with multiple participating departments, including Pathology, Surgery, Microbiology & Immunology, and several divisions in the Department of Internal Medicine. This interdisciplinary structure provided an inclusive environment to place our students and fellows into the best immunology laboratories at UM. The Immunology T32 organized resources from both the institution and the T32 itself to support its preceptors and trainees. These programs are still active today and include a weekly work in progress seminar; a monthly invited speaker seminar program; and “Research Colloquium” courses that offer students an opportunity for focused, guided study of “Special Topics in Translational Immunology” and “Methods in Immunology”. The seminar series also serves to gather diverse faculty and post-doctoral researchers, including many not officially associated with the GPI, but with overlapping research interests together to facilitate interactions and collaborations.  The T32 also helps to sponsor an annual retreat for the Immunology community.

The Director, co-Director, and Assistant Director of the Research Training in Experimental Immunology T32 are:

For information about joining the T32 as a faculty preceptor or to apply for support by the T32, please contact Drs. Moore, Raghavan, or Carty at the emails above.

The executive committee for the T32 includes:

Bethany Moore, Ph.D.
Nancy Williams Walls Professor and Chair of Microbiology & Immunology, Director of the ITTP
Research interests: Transplantation, host defense, fibrosis 

Malini Raghavan, Ph.D.
Professor of Microbiology & Immunology, Director of GPI, Co-Director, ITTP 
Research Interests: Polymorphisms and biology of MHC I

Shannon Carty, M.D.           
Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine (Hematology and Oncology); Asst. Director, ITTP
Research Interests: Epigenetic modification of normal and malignant T lymphocyte function

Weiping Zou, M.D., Ph.D.
Charles B. De Nancrede Professor of Surgery, Immunology and Biology, co-Director, Tumor Immunology and Host Response Program, Director, Translational Research, Co-Director, Immune Monitoring Core
Research Interests: Tumor immunology and epigenetics    

Nick Lukacs, Ph.D.              
Stobbe Endowed Professor of Pathology, Scientific Director, Mary H. Weiser Food Allergy Center
Research Interests: RSV host defense, chemokine and cytokine biology, food allergy, allergic airway disease

Our T32 currently supports 5 predoctoral, 1 doctoral candidate and 2 post-doctoral fellows each year. Preference is given to supporting 2^nd year PhD students who are working in an immunologically relevant laboratory.  Students can be in any PhD program and apply.  Preference is given to 1^st or 2^nd year post-doctoral fellows, although any eligible post-doctoral fellow can apply.  Because the T32 is federally funded, applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents.

Predoctoral Trainees:

Sheridan Mikhail

Matthew Perricone

Francina Gonzalez de Santos

Nicholas Armas

Doctoral Candidate Trainee:

Erin Holcomb

Postdoctoral Trainees:

Dominik Awad

Guolei Zhao