M&I Postdocs
Piyush Chaudhary
Postdoctoral Fellow - Reeves Lab
Bio: One critical question that fascinates me in the domain of cancer immunotherapy is the resistance mechanisms that have evolved in solid tumors. Due to low T-cell infiltration and high prevalence of immunosuppressive myeloid cells, these tumors are resistant to immunotherapies. Since the immune cell infiltration is regulated by chemokines in the tumor microenvironment (TME). In the Reeves Lab, I am exploring the chemokine network within the TME, its impact on tumor cell survival, immune cell infiltration, extracellular matrix remodeling, and angiogenesis. The goal is to investigate the molecular mechanisms that can guide the development of novel therapeutic strategies for treating solid tumors.
Christy Clutter
Postdoctoral Fellow - Leung Lab
Bio: "As a scientist, I am passionate about the spaces where mucosal immunology, metabolism, nutrition and environment interact. My career started with my first love: the gut microbiome in autoimmunity. The idea of an internal ecology that so profoundly shapes our being was the most amazing thing! I also fell head over heels for the gut, hands down the coolest organ. As a budding immunology PhD, though, I wanted my research to reflect not just scientific knowledge, but relevance to human social and environmental factors. To this end, I pursued additional training in public and global health. In graduate school, this took the form of a deep dive on poverty and the microbiome that was published in Nature Reviews Immunology. Following this thread, I took a fellowship with the New York City Public Health Lab after graduation, where I got to take part in disease outbreak response, optimize lab testing and spearhead a capacity building project to impart diagnostic microbiology testing to a small hospital lab in Aswan, Egypt.
Now in Daniel Leung's lab and back in academia, I get to do a little bit of it all. My work so far in the Leung lab has spanned cholera serosurveillance with partners in Cameroon, Haiti and Congo, as well as investigating the physiology of MAIT cells in health and disease. As a Metabolism T32 awardee, I have begun to add both metabolism and omics analysis to my toolkit, and ultimately hope to blend it all together addressing immunometabolism in global undernutrition. "
Awards:
2022: Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award in Metabolism | NIH T32DK091317
2019: Career Development Award for Postdoctoral Women | ASM
2017: Certificate of Recognition for Early Career Gastroenterology | AGA Council
2014-2017: Dorrance Endowed Fellowship in Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition | Steele Research Center
Renae Denman
Postdoctoral Fellow - Beaudin Lab
Bio: The respiratory tract is a common route of infection, yet strategies to protect this vital organ remain limited. I am interested in understanding lung immune responses and how they can be improved to prevent disease. My work in the Beaudin Lab focuses on the role of type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) in asthma susceptibility, particularly how prenatal inflammation programs their function. Building on my PhD training in Australia, I hope to identify new ways to enhance lung immunity during early life inflammation.
Claire Doherty
Postdoctoral Fellow - Round/O'Connell Lab
Bio: Microbes are a constant presence in our bodies and environments, influencing health in subtle and far-reaching ways. My research explores how interactions between microbes and the immune system shape outcomes in colorectal cancer. I’m particularly interested in how hosts and microbes communicate through extracellular vesicles, and how this dialogue can be leveraged to promote beneficial immune responses during colorectal cancer.
Clara Frazier
Postdoctoral Fellow - Haecker Lab
Bio: After finishing up my PhD in enzyme chemistry with Professor Amy Weeks at University of Wisconsin–Madison, I came to the University of Utah to apply my biochemical background to study the underlying mechanisms of disease. In the Haecker lab, I am interested in the disruption of innate immunity can lead to chronic inflammation, potentially progressing to autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus. I am studying the protein ABIN1, and using a variety of complementary techniques like transcriptomics and proteomics to explore how this key anti-inflammatory protein regulates inflammation and hematopoiesis. With my research, I hope to deepen our understanding of how inflammatory diseases develop. Outside of the lab, I spend my time biking, hiking, and volunteering with environmental groups to restore the Great Salt Lake.
Jacob Kisiolek
Postdoctoral Fellow - Evavold Lab
Bio: I investigate inhibitory receptor bond kinetics and their role in translating mechanical force into biological response. Mainly focused on cytotoxic lymphocytes, inhibitory receptors are key in preventing off-target killing. By understanding how mechanical forces translate to the inhibition of cells, we hope to manipulate this function in viral and diseased states, where immunoevasion occurs.
Awards:
F32 AI191473-01 'Innate Cells with Adaptive Specificity: Bond Kinetics of NK Cell Inhibitory Receptor Ly49C'
Won Lee
Postdoctoral Fellow - Bettini Lab
Bio: I’m driven by scientific questions that connect cellular mechanisms to therapeutic translation. My work on GD2-targeted CAR T-cell therapy for solid tumors builds on my previous experience developing PBMC-humanized models to study efficacy, persistence, and cytokine-driven toxicity across diverse CAR designs. I aim to bridge in vivo, in vitro, and computational approaches to better predict therapeutic outcomes and advance safer, more effective immunotherapies for patients.
Awards:
Samsung Scholarship
Diego Lopez
Postdoctoral Fellow - Beaudin Lab
Bio: During my predoctoral work, I investigated the effects of prenatal inflammation on reprogramming of developmental hematopoiesis. My findings highlighting the profound impact diet, infection, or inflammation during early gestation can have on immune function and disease outcomes in offspring across the lifetime. The idea that we can prevent or modulate disease or disease onset by intervening during critical periods of immunological development is fascinating and I wanted to continue to explore this topic further in my postdoctoral work. Now in Dr. June Round’s lab, I hope to integrate the findings of my graduate work on the effects of prenatal inflammation on lifelong blood and immune development with the role of the gut microbiome in modulating human disease ontogeny during early life.
Awards:
Jane Coffin Childs Fund Fellow
Ava Niazi
Postdoctoral Fellow - Beaudin Lab
Bio: I’m most fascinated by how immune signaling shapes neural development and how its disruption derail neurodevelopment maturation, structure and function.My doctoral thesis examined molecular mechanisms that govern extracellular matrix (ECM) assembly in the cochlea and the brain. In the Beaudin Lab I study how resident macrophages shape cochlear development and ECM architecture, and how congenital infections such as cytomegalovirus (CMV) perturb this process. I hope my research leads to new insights into how immune–matrix interactions support sensory and neural development and function.
Isaraphorn Pratumchai
Postdoctoral Fellow - Round Lab
Bio: I am a scientist driven by the idea that the immune system senses far more of the microbial world than we currently appreciate, and that these uncharted interactions hold the key to new insights in human health. My work focuses on uncovering adaptive immune responses to bacteriophages—the most abundant yet least understood biological entities—to reveal how they influence gut homeostasis and disease. My goal is to define a new axis of adaptive immunity that expands our view of the gut’s antigenic landscape and positions immune–phage interactions as a critical layer of host–microbe communication. Ultimately, I aim to translate these discoveries into microbiome-based therapeutics—using bugs as drugs by harnessing phage–immune interactions to modulate disease.
Awards:
2014 Leiden University Outbound Study Grant
2014 DOO Internationalisation scholarship by Leiden University
2014 Erasmus+ Grant by the European Commission
2019 AAI Trainee Abstract Award
2020 AAI Trainee Abstract Award
2024 AACR-Barbara Campbell Creighton Scholar-in-Training Award"
Shubhanshi Trivedi
Postdoctoral Fellow - Leung Lab
Bio: Dr. Trivedi received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biotechnology (2007) from DAVV University, India. She completed her Masters of Biotechnology with Honors (2010) and PhD (2015) from the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. Her research work has provided novel insights to factors that can play a fundamental role in modulating mucosal vaccine efficacy in the context of HIV-1. She joined Dr. Leung’s laboratory as a postdoctoral research fellow and is currently working as Research associate. Her research focuses on immunology, microbiology and serosurvey of cholera and other infectious diseases. She's currently exploring how gut microbes shape immune response. In her free time, she enjoys painting, hiking and spending time with her family.