Center for Immunology

Latest News 

The American College of Rheumatology awards Bryce Binstadt, M.D., Ph.D. the 2021 Award of Distinction for Excellence in Investigative Mentoring

Each year the American College of Rheumatology recognizes its members' outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology through an awards program. This year an excellent researcher, instructor, mentor, practitioner & leader was awarded the 2021 Excellence in Investigative Mentoring Award. Bryce Binstadt embodies the Excellence in Investigative Mentoring Award. This award recognizes the importance of the mentor/mentee relationship. A dedicated mentor can significantly influence the successful development and career of a mentee. This award honors an active ACR or ARP member for their contributions to the rheumatology profession through outstanding and ongoing mentoring. Funding support for this award of distinction is provided by the Rheumatology Research Foundation.  Dr. Binstadt is routinely recognized as a Minnesota "Top Doctor" and he is a distinguished University teaching professor in the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Department of Pediatrics. He has a successful lab that is working on understanding the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases with particular emphasis on immune-mediated cardiovascular disease, he is a clinical pediatric rheumatologist who cares for children with arthritis, lupus, dermatomyositis, and related rheumatologic disorders, the Director of the Pediatric Rheumatology Fellowship Training Program, an Associate Director of the Medical Scientist Training Program (M.D./Ph.D.), and Director of the Pediatric Physician-Scientist Training Program. CFI would like to Congratulate Dr. Binstadt on this well distinguished and deserved honor!!

AIRE to host Postdoc Grant Writing Seminar & Workshop

AIRE is excited to announce an upcoming workshop focused on applying for postdoc fellowships. We hope this will be a useful resource for postdocs who are unable to utilize graduate grant resources but aren't quite ready for advanced career grants (K99s, etc.) that are reviewed in CFI's grant review group.

The Workshop will consist of 3 sessions (weeks of 9/27, 10/11, & 11/1) in which small groups of 3-4 applicants will meet with one faculty and one postdoc mentor to review and provide peer-peer feedback on various sections within each applicants' grant (more specifically: Specific Aims, Training Plan, Research Plan). Please note, this workshop is designed specifically for postdocs applying for fellowships (F32s, ACS fellowships, etc.) and late-stage graduate students interested in applying for the NIH F99 transition grant or preparing for postdoc grants. If you are interested in the workshop, please RSVP ASAP to ensure that we are able to provide sufficient mentorship and support for all interested participants!

CFI Postdoctoral Fellows honored as part of National Postdoc Appreciation Week

Drs. Silva Morales, Block and Jarjour

Dr. Milagros Silva Morales received the 2021 University of Minnesota Postdoc Award in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in our Academic Community and Drs. Katherine Block and Nicholas Jarjour have been awarded the 2021 Service to the Academic Community award from the Office of Professional Development and the UMN Postdoctoral Association during the celebration of National Postdoc Appreciation Week! The Postdoctoral Association of the University of Minnesota has put together a series of events to bring UMN postdoctoral researchers together and showcase their excellent contributions to research and the community during National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW).

Drs. Silva Morales, Block and Jarjour work tirelessly to promote DEI within CFI and the University Community and all are members of EWIS and AIRE. Their contributions improve our community on a daily basis. Dr. Silva Morales was nominated by her peers, who spoke highly of her contributions to the local UMN science community as well as her work promoting STEM at all levels of education especially to the youth in the urban areas. “Milagros is a leader within the UMN community who has put in countless hours towards diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. She empowers folks around her.” Drs. Tori Osinski and Leigh Allen. Recently, Dr. Silva Morales was interviewed for the section International Biomedical Researchers Spark Innovation at the U as part of the Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion newsletter, which highlights several international students that play an important role in advancing healthcare innovations through research at the U every month. "By improving our cultural competence, we collaborate effectively with people of diverse backgrounds and cultures," Dr. Silva Morales said. "In turn, we improve the understanding of our coworkers and patients’ belief systems and values, have better research teams, and provide better patient care." Read more.

Meagan Rollins Named 2021-2022 Dennis W. Watson Fellowship Recipient

CFI would like to congratulate Meagan Rollins, the recipient of the 2021-2022 Dennis W. Watson fellowship. The Watson Fellowship is an annual competitive award for microbiology track students beginning their fourth year of study in the MICaB program and have as their faculty advisor a member of the microbiology faculty or MICaB microbiology track faculty. The student receives a one-year non-renewable fellowship in addition to a $500 cash award.

Congratulations to Lucy Sjaastad, 2021 Pfizer Junior Investigator Award for Most Promising Research Presentations

Lucy Sjaastad a 4th-year MICAB graduate student in Dr. Michael Farrar’s lab was awarded the Pfizer Junior Investigator Award for Most Promising Research Presentation at their Cytokines 2021 Hybrid Meeting. Along with a monetary award the highest scoring trainees are invited to participate in a Pfizer symposium. The symposium will feature a networking event to introduce the award winners to associated research groups within Pfizer and expose the trainees to potential collaborations and career opportunities in industry. The awards are sponsored by Pfizer in recognition of the next generation of cytokine & interferon researchers! Lucy studies regulatory T-cell (Treg) development and functions during infection.  Recently, Lucy and her collaborators identified a unique population of Tregs that express a strong interferon-stimulated gene (ISG) signature.  These Tregs are present in mice at steady-state and expand in the lungs and draining lymph nodes during infection with influenza A virus.  Interestingly, ISG-Tregs emerge earlier during infection and express a distinct T-cell receptor repertoire but the function of these cells is unknown.  Using a novel mouse model that enables inducible depletion of ISG-Tregs, Lucy and her colleagues aim to dissect the function of these Tregs during influenza infection.

Milcah Scott is awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship

CFI would like to congratulate Milcah Scott, a predoctoral student in the Masopust Lab. Milcah was awarded the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship for her work on a suite of contemporary and complementary whole animal, cellular and molecular approaches to better define the transcriptional programs and phenotypes of stringently-identified, bona fide tissue resident memory CD8 T cells (TRM). Refined analyses of TRM will broaden our understanding of how TRM are generated and maintained in tissues and are key to addressing deficiencies in our understanding of how (TRM) effect pathogen protection, tumor control, and autoimmune pathogenesis. The purpose of the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Predoctoral Fellowship award is to enable promising predoctoral students to obtain individualized, mentored research training from outstanding faculty sponsors while conducting dissertation research in scientific health-related fields to enhance the individual’s potential to develop into a productive, independent research scientist.

Congratulations to Dr. JT Greene for his American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellowship

J.T. Greene, Ph.D. from the Freedman lab was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the American Cancer Society to support his ongoing research and training.  The Cancer Society awards researchers who are within 3 years of receiving a doctoral degree initial funding to start training for an independent career in cancer research. J.T. was also awarded The Ben G. Zimmerman Travel Award from the Department of Pharmacology, this award supports the participation (poster or oral presentation) of graduate students and postdoctoral trainees at scientific conferences.  

Join AIRE and EWIS for our monthly discussions on race and gender inequality!!

Marc Jenkins recently announced the formation of the Association of Immunologists for Racial Equity (AIRE, formerly ReJUS) at the CFI. AIRE was born in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, nationwide protests on racial discrimination and discriminatory policing practices including the use of deadly force against black persons. These events have shaken our world, and have been a very painful reminder of our collective silence and complicity in maintaining the status quo and allowing racial injustice to go unchallenged. While centuries of institutionalized racism is daunting to correct as individuals, as a collective of scientists, we can reassess our individual and institutional beliefs, practices, norms, and culture and set them on a more just and equitable course.

AIRE was founded by trainees at the CFI and is an open community of CFI faculty and trainees (postdocs, staff, graduate, and undergraduate students). We are dedicated to the recruitment, support, and career advancement of students, post-docs, and faculty from historically underrepresented and disenfranchised communities in the biomedical sciences. Our mission is to 1) educate the scientific community on the issues of racial discrimination and institutionalized racism that permeate science and society; 2) promote the recruitment, retention, and career advancement of students, postdocs, and faculty from historically underrepresented and disenfranchised communities into the biomedical sciences; 3) facilitate community outreach events to assist the democratization of science. To review the slides from the first AIRE meeting please click here.

AIRE Signup Form 
EWIS Interest Form - Please also consider joining EWIS. Both of these groups will be working together on many shared goals.

Securing your Zoom meeting

As a result of the increased use of Zoom meetings globally, they have become a target for meeting hijackers. Read about how to Secure Your Zoom Meeting before it occurs, while you are meeting, and after it is over. You can also watch a short demonstration of In-Meeting Tools to Secure your Zoom Meetings.

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