Recent News
December 2023
Ze Zhang Receives Cancer Research Institute Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship
Ze Zhang, PhD, a postdoctoral student, was recently awarded an Irvington Postdoctoral Fellowship award through the Cancer Research Institute. The fellowship acknowledges the significance of Dr. Zhang’s previous onco-neuroimmunology research and provides support for his upcoming work in innate immunity research. With funding from the fellowship, Dr. Zhang will utilize skills in biochemistry genetic biology, molecular biology, and immunology to address important immunology challenges, particularly related to NLRP1, including NLRP1 inhibitors and agonists. These endeavors will deepen the understanding of immune regulation and provide valuable compounds for dissecting biology and its roles in disease, with the ultimate objective of developing therapeutic drugs aimed at curing specific immune-related diseases. Ze is also featured as the Department of Medicine's postdoctoral spotlight. Read Ze's spotlight.
Kristy Chiang Receives Poster Award at NEIC
Kristy Chiang, a PhD candidate in the labs of Drs. Kate Fitzgerald and Ann Marshak-Rothstein received an award for her research poster at the New England Immunology Conference earlier this month. Kristy’s poster was titled, “Autoimmune interstitial lung disease is initiated by STING gain-of-function radioresistant cells.”
October 2023
Romana Rashid featured as the Department of Medicine's postdoctoral spotlight.
Read Romana's spotlight.
Students in the Fitzgerald Lab Partner with Vanderbilt Program to Create Scientific Art
During the summer, Kristy Chiang, Mingqi Dong, and Shrutika Mintri, graduate students in Dr. Kate Fitzgerald’s lab, partnered with students in the Vanderbilt VI4 Artist-in-Residence Program, to artistically represent their science through drawing and digital art. Dr. Fitzgerald and members of her team, applied to participate in this program, whose mission is to cultivate a meaningful, equitable, and multidisciplinary community through an entirely virtual environment that expands the impact of cutting-edge research through art.
May 2023
Liraz Galia and Kevin Gao featured as the Department of Medicine's postdoctoral and graduate student spotlights.
Read Liraz's spotlight. Read Kevin's spotlight.
April 2023
Congratulations to Liraz Galia and Kevin Gao for being named winners of the inaugural RISE: The Robert W. Finberg, MD Memorial Research Training Awards. They will present their research at Innate Immunity Day on May 10, 2023. Learn more about Innate Immunity Day.
- Liraz's project title is The LncRNA HOXA11os Regulates Mitochondrial Function in Myeloid Cells to Maintain Intestinal Homeostasis.
- Kevin's project title is STING-Mediated Autoinflammation in Endothelial Cells Initiates Interstitial Lung Disease.
