Training grant appointment year: 2021-2022
Mentor: Brian Fife, Medicine
Research Interest: Pathogenic hybrid peptide-specific CD4+ T cells as a therapeutic target in Type 1 Diabetes
Current Position: Medical Scientist Training Program (MD./PhD) Student, University of Minnesota Medical School
Alexis Elfstrum
Mentor: Kaylee Schwertfeger
Research Interest: The role of Lyve-1+ macrophages in breast cancer using mouse models and in vitro modeling experiments.
Current Position: MICaB Predoctoral Graduate Student, University of Minnesota
Mentor: Marc Jenkins, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: Generation and maintenance of memory CD4+ T cells.
Current Position: MICaB Predoctoral Graduate Student, University of Minnesota
Training grant appointment year: 2020-2021
Mentor: Kristin Hogquist, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Negative selection of autoreactive T cells
Current Position: MICaB Predoctoral Graduate Student, University of Minnesota
Mentor: Mike Farrar, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Nuclear corepressors in CD4 T cell development.
Current Position: Medical Scientist Training Program (MD./PhD) and MICaB Predoctoral Graduate Student, University of Minnesota
Mentor: Bruce Blazar, Pediatrics
Research Interest: Investigating therapeutic targets for Chronic Graft Versus Host Disease
Current Position: Medical Scientist Training Program (MD./PhD) and MICaB Predoctoral Graduate Student, University of Minnesota
Meagan Rollins 
Mentor: Ingunn Stromnes, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: Understanding mechanisms of T cell exhaustion; engineered T cell immunotherapy for the treatment of pancreatic cancer
Current Position: MICaB Predoctoral Graduate Student, University of Minnesota
Training grant appointment year: 2019-2020
Mentor: Bruce Blazar, Pediatrics
Research Interest: Transplant immunology; regulatory T cell immunotherapy for the treatment or prevention of acute Graft Versus Host Disease.
Current Position: Medical Scientist Training Program (MD./PhD), University of Minnesota Medical School
Frances Sjaastad, Ph.D.
Mentor: Thomas Griffith, Urology
Research Interest: Understanding the mechanisms responsible for sepsis-induced immune suppression.
Current Position: Scientist at MD Biosciences, Oakdale, MN
Lucy Sjaastad, Ph.D.
Mentor: Mike Farrar, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Development and function of regulatory T-cells
Current Position: Medical writer at PRECISIONscientia
Philip Titcombe, Ph.D.
Mentor: Dan Mueller, Medicine
Research Interest: Self-specific B cell evolution in autoimmunity
Current Position: Medical Scientist Training Program (MD./PhD) Student, University of Minnesota Medical School
Training grant appointment year: 2018-2019
Emily Pomeroy, Ph.D.
Mentor: Brandon Moriarty, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: Basic biology of NK cells and implications for their use in immunotherapy
Current Position: Scientist at Prime Medicine, Inc., Boston, MA
Mentor: Bruce Blazar, Pediatrics
Research Interest: Transplantation immunobiology, with a specific focus on interventions to prevent and treat chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD)
Current Position: Medical Scientist Training Program (MD./PhD), University of Minnesota Medical School
Training grant appointment year: 2017-2018
Elizabeth Fay, Ph.D.
Mentor: Ryan Langlois, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: Immune responses to influenza A viruses
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow in the Daugherty Lab at UC-San Diego
Mentor: Bryce Binstadt, Pediatrics
Research Interest: Mechanisms of inflammation and fibrosis in cardiovascular disease
Current Position: General Surgery Resident, Univ of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Christopher Tucker, M.D., Ph.D.
Mentor: Brian Fife, Medicine
Research Interest: Cancer immunotherapy and its associated autoimmunity
Current Position: Medicine-Pediatrics Resident, Univ of Minnesota Medical School
Sathi Weijeyesinghe, M.D., Ph.D.
Mentor: David Masopust, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: Resident memory T cell longevity and maintenance
Current Position: Pediatrics (PSTP) Resident, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
Michael Zaiken, Ph.D.
Mentor: Bruce Blazar, Pediatrics
Research Interest: Epigenetic and transcriptional profiling in treatment development for chronic graft versus host disease
Current Position: Post Doctoral Fellow, University of Minnesota
Training grant appointment year: 2016-2017
Elise Breed, M.D., Ph.D.
Mentor: Kristin Hogquist, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Negative selection of T cells in the thymus
Current Position: Internal Medicine (PSTP) Resident, University of Pennsylvania
Mentor: Kaylee Schwertfeger, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Looking at how inhibitors of the JAK/STAT pathway affect the breast tumor microenvironment
Current Position: Clinical Research Scientist, Abbott Laboratories, MN
Daniel Walsh, J.D., Ph.D.
Mentor: Stephen Jameson, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Mechanisms of how cells become resident memory cells
Current Position: Law Clerk at Klarquist Sparkman, LLP, Portland, Oregon
Training grant appointment year: 2015-2016
Dmitri Kotov, Ph.D.
Mentor: Marc Jenkins, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: T cell-intrinsic and extrinsic factors that control CD4 T cell differentiation
Current Position: Postdoctoral fellow (Russell Vance lab), University of California, Berkeley
Jessica Kotov, Ph.D.
Mentor: Marc Jenkins, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: Factors that drive the differentiation of multiple CD4+ T cell subsets
Current Position: Postdoctoral fellow (Jason Cyster lab), University of California, San Francisco
David Owen, Ph.D.
Mentor: Michael Farrar, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Regulatory T cell development and function
Current Position: Post Doctoral Fellow, Diane Mathis' and Christophe Benoist's labs, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Training grant appointment year: 2014-2015
Brett Anderson, Ph.D.
Mentor: Reuben Harris, Biochemistry
Research Interest: HIV-1 VIF and its interplay with the cellular APOBEC3 proteins
Current Position: Senior Product Development Scientist, Miromatrix Medical Inc, Eden Prairie, MN
Sakeen Kashem, M.D., Ph.D.
Mentor: Daniel Kaplan, Dermatology
Research Interest: Dendritic cell subsets and T helper lineage commitment
Current Position: Assistant Clinical Professor, UCSF Dermatology; Post-doctoral fellow, Laboratory of Allan Basbaum, PhD. Department of Anatomy, UCSF; Dermatologist, Pleasanton Allergy & Dermatology, Pleasanton, CA
Christine Nelson, Ph.D.
Mentor: Vaiva Vezys, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: Immune response to chronic viral infections
Current Position: Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Emily Thompson, Ph.D.
Mentor: Vaiva Vezys, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: The self-specific CD8 T cell response
Current Position: Scientist, Bluebird Bio, Cambridge, MA
Training grant appointment year: 2013-2014
Javier Cabrera-Perez, Ph.D.
Mentor: Tom Griffith, Urology
Research Interest: CD4 T cell impairment during sepsis
Current Position: Resident, Pediatrics (PSTP), Baylor College of Medicine
Shirdi Schmiel, Ph.D.
Mentor: Daniel Mueller, Medicine
Research Interest: Regulatory T cells in the induction and maintenance of anergy
Current Position: Research Scientist at Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc., San Diego, CA
Darin Wiesner, Ph.D.
Mentor: Paul Bohjanen, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: Type 2 helper T cell responses to pulmonary fungal infection
Current Position: Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Pediatrics, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Training grant appointment year: 2012-2013
Juliet Crabtree, Ph.D.
Mentor: Erik Peterson, Medicine
Research Interest: PTPN22 in viral infections and vaccination
Current Position: Senior Scientist at MPM NewCo, Framingham, Massachusetts
Samantha Dunmire, Ph.D.
Mentor: Kristin Hogquist, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: The gene signature of primary EBV infection
Current Position: Scientist, Luminary Therapeutics, Inc, Minneapolis, MN
Ryan Flynn, Ph.D.
Mentor: Bruce Blazar, Pediatrics
Research Interest: Plasma cells in chronic Graft vs. Host disease
Current Position: Senior Medical Science Liaison at Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc., San Francisco, CA
Training grant appointment year: 2011-2012
Stephanie Haasken, Ph.D.
Mentor: Bryce Binstadt, Pediatrics
Research Interest: Mechanisms of autoimmune arthritis/carditis
Current Position: Proposal Writer, Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), Milwaukee, WI
Casey Katerndahl, Ph.D.
Mentor: Michael Farrar, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: IL-7R signaling in B cell leukemia
Current Position: Instructor, Department of Medicine in the Division of Oncology, Washington University in St. Louis
Jason Schenkel, M.D., Ph.D.
Mentor: David Masopust, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: Immune protection in the female reproductive tract
Current Position: Assistant Professor of Translational Molecular Pathology and Immunology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Cara Skon Hegg, Ph.D.
Mentor: Stephen Jameson, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: KLF2 in memory CD4 T cells
Current Position: Research Scientist, Whiteside Institute for Clinical Research, Duluth, MN
Training grant appointment year: 2010-2011
Zachary Demorest, Ph.D.
Mentor: Reuben Harris, Biochemistry
Research Interest: AID and APOBEC
Current Position: Director of Operations at Calyxt, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Geoffrey Hart, Ph.D.
Mentor: Stephen Jameson, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: The role of KFL-2 in B cells
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, MN
Jonathan Linehan, Ph.D.
Mentor: Marc Jenkins, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: T-helper 17 memory cells
Current Position: Researcher, Department of Cancer Immunology, Genentech, South San Francisco, CA
Shawn Mahmud, M.D., Ph.D.
Mentor: Michael Farrar, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: T reg cell development
Current Position: Pediatric Resident, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Training grant appointment year: 2009-2010
Adovi Akue, Ph.D.
Mentor: Stephen Jameson, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: CD8 memory T cells
Current Position: Chemist, US Government, Washington, DC
Kieng Bao Vang-Dings, Ph.D.
Mentor: Michael Farrar, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Role of IL2 in lymphocyte production
Current Position: Research Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas-Little Rock
Training grant appointment year: 2008-2009
Amanda Griffin, Ph.D.
Mentor: Stephen McSorley, Medicine
Research Interest: CD4+ T cell response to Salmonella
Current Position: Biologist (Animal) at Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH, Hamilton, MT
Amy Moran, Ph.D.
Mentor: Kristin Hogquist, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: TCR signal strength and T cell selection
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, OR
Antonio Pagan, Ph.D.
Mentor: Marc Jenkins, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: Role of CD28 in memory T cell generation
Current Position: Postdoctoral fellow, University of Cambridge (Lalita Ramakrishnan lab), Cambridge, UK
Mark Willette, Ph.D.
Mentor: Michael Farrar, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Role of STAT5 in early B cell development
Current Position: Principal Scientist at Pfizer, Boston, MA
Training grant appointment year: 2007-2008
Michael Weinreich, M.D., Ph.D.
Mentor: Kristin Hogquist, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: The role of KLF2 in T cell development
Current Position: Associate Medical Director, Physician Development Program, AbbVie, Chicago, Illinois
Colleen Winstead, Ph.D.
Mentor: Alexander Khoruts, Medicine
Research Interest: Regulatory T cell homeostasis
Current Position: Associate Principal Scientist, Merck, Kenilworth, NJ
Training grant appointment year: 2006-2007
Christopher DeNucci, M.D., Ph.D.
Mentor: Yoji Shimizu, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: The role of beta-1 integrin on CD4 T cells
Current Position: Resident, Diagnostic Radiology, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA
Mary Kvitrud Gosse, M.S.
Mentor: Brian Van Ness, Genetics, Cell Biology and Development
Research Interest: Mechanisms of plasma cell transformation and multiple myelomas
Current Position: Senior Development Scientist, Beckman Coulter, Minneapolis, MN
Ryan Kelly, Ph.D.
Mentor: Bruce Blazar, Pediatrics
Research Interest: Immune reconstitution following HSCT
Current Position: General Manager, The Innovation Institute, Newport Beach, CA
Thomas McCaughtry, Ph.D.
Mentor: Kristin Hogquist, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Kinetics of T cell development
Current Position: Director- Immuno-Oncology & Bio-Therapeutics, KSQ Therapeutics, Cambridge, MA
Training grant appointment year: 2005-2006
Rachel Oglivie, Ph.D., MPH
Mentor: Paul Bohjann, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: Response to Tristetraprolin on mRNA decay in T lymphocytes
Current Position: Post-Doctoral Scholar in Translational Sleep Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA
Michelle Sandau, Ph.D.
Mentor: Stephen Jameson, Laboratory, Medicine and Pathology
Research Interest: The role of Interleukin-15 in lymphocyte homeostasis
Current Position: Director of Research and Development, AFB International, St. Louis, MO
Cory Yarke, M.D., Ph.D.
Mentor: Daniel Mueller, Medicine
Research Interest: Regulation of CD4 T cell clonal expansion by TCR and CD28R signaling
Current Position: Internal Medicine Specialist, St Cloud Hospital, St Cloud, Minnesota
Training grant appointment year: 2004-2005
Matthew Burchill, Ph.D.
Mentor: Michael Farrar, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Regulation of suppressor T cell development by STAT5
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Colorado, Denver, CO.
Jason Hataye, M.D., Ph.D.
Mentor: Marc Jenkins, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: T cell survival
Current Position: Infectious diseases physician-scientist at the National Institutes of Health (Richard Koup lab), Bethesda, MD
Sonja Johnson Nodland, Ph.D.
Mentor: Tucker LeBien, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Cytokine control of B cell development
Current Position: Senior Scientist, Kerry Foods, Minneapolis, MN
Training grant appointment year: 2003-2004
Christine Goetz, Ph.D.
Mentor: Michael Farrar, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Cytokine-dependent regulation of lymphocyte development
Current Position: Scientist 1, R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN
Charlly Kao, Ph.D.
Mentor: Stephen Jameson, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Regulation of CD8 Class I MHC binding in T cell development and activation
Current Position: Scientist III at Center for Applied Genomics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Lori Schneider Rusch, Ph.D.
Mentor: Marc Jenkins, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: In Vivo antigen presentation by dendritic cells
Current Position: Senior Clinical Trial Manager at Coloplast Corp, Minneapolis, MN
Training grant appointment year: 2002-2003
Emily Baechler Gillespie, Ph.D.
Mentor: Timothy Behrens, Medicine
Research Interest: Gene Expression profiling in autoimmunity
Current Position: Principal Clinical Evidence Specialist, Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN
Verity Mick, Ph.D.
Mentor: Kristin Hogquist, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Gene expression profile of thymocyte positive selection
Current Position: not currently working
Kristen Mueller, Ph.D.
Mentor: Yoji Shimizu, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: T cell activation and ADAP function
Current Position: Scientific Program Director, Melanoma Research Alliance, Washington, DC
Training grant appointment year: 2001-2002
Lisa Harmala, Ph.D.
Mentor: Christopher Pennell, Laboratory, Medicine and Pathology
Research Interest: Heat shock proteins as immune modulators
Current Position: Purification Manager, Cell Culture Company, Coon Rapids, MN
Flavia Popescu, Ph.D.
Mentor: Matthew Mescher, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Tumor-specific CTL responses
Current Position: Research Associate, Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development (David Laraespada lab), University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Timothy Starr, Ph.D.
Mentor: Kristin Hogquist, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Differential TCR signaling during T cell development
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
Training grant appointment year: 2000-2001
Bart Endrizzi, M.D., Ph.D.
Mentor: Stephen Jameson, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: Role of LKLF in T cell migration
Current Position: Associate Professor, Department of Dermatology, University of Minnesota and Dermatologist at Associated Skin Care Specialists, Minneapolis, MN
Richard Lee Reinhardt, Ph.D.
Mentor: Marc Jenkins, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: In Vivo generation of CD4 memory T cells during a primary immune response
Current Position: Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Research, National Jewish Health, Denver, CO
Training grant appointment year: 1999-2000
Ben Ehst, M.D., Ph.D.
Mentor: Marc Jenkins, Microbiology and Immunology
Research Interest: Role of CD4+ T cells in graft rejection
Current Position: Dermatologist, HealthPartners Specialty Center, St. Paul, MN
Mark Daniels, Ph.D.
Mentor: Stephen Jameson, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research Interest: CD8 binding to MHC Class I
Current Position: Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, University of Missouri School of Medicine
Tracy Vanasek, Ph.D.
Mentor: Daniel Mueller, Medicine
Research Interest: Clonal anergy In Vivo
Current Position: Director of Operations, Display Services, RES Specialty Pyrotechnics, Minneapolis, MN
Training grant appointment year: 1998-1999
Jody Bonnevier, Ph.D.
Mentor: Daniel Mueller, Medicine
Research Interest: Regulation of MAPK in anergic T cells
Current Position: Manager, Flow Cytometry and Cell Selection, R&D Systems, Minneapolis, MN
Maureen McGargill, Ph.D.
Mentor: Kristin Hogquist, Laboratory, Medicin, and Pathology
Research Interest: Antigen-driven events during T cell development
Current Position: Associate Professor, St. Jude Children's Hospital, Memphis, TN
Training grant appointment year: 1997-1998
Jason Fink, M.S.
Mentor: Tucker LeBien, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research: Cyclins and CDK1 In B cells
Current position: Director of Tissue Processing, Celcuity, Minneapolis, MN
Clint Schmidt, Ph.D.
Mentor: Matthew Mescher, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research: CTL activation
Current position: Supervisor of Immune, Progenitor and Cell Therapeutics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
William C. Kieper, Ph.D.
Mentor: Stephen Jameson, Laboratory, Medicine, and Pathology
Research: Role of self-peptides in T cell survival
Current Position: Senior Medical Science Liaison, Seattle Genetics, Minneapolis, MN
Training grant appointment year: 1996-1997
Erika Nell Malvey-Dorn, M.D., Ph.D.
Mentor: Daniel Mueller, Medicine
Research: T cell anergy
Current position: Pediatrician, President and CEO, All About Children Pediatrics, Minneapolis, MN
Sirid Kellermann, Ph.D.
Mentor: Yoji Shimizu, Laboratory, Medicine and Pathology
Research: TCR regulation of integrin function
Current position: President, 4th & Aspen Life Sciences Consulting LLC, Minneapolis, MN