Fran Lund, Ph.D., an internationally recognized scientist who has uncovered crucial additional roles for the immune system’s antibody-generating B cells, has been selected for the academic medical center’s highest faculty honor. Learn more about her career and current work in immune memory in this article.
Selene Meza-Perez, Ph.D., instructor in the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology at the UAB Heersink School of Medicine, has been named the latest recipient of the school’s Featured Discovery award. This recognition celebrates notable research contributions made by faculty and highlights the impact of their scientific advancements.
The study, titled “Proteobacteria impair anti-tumor immunity in the omentum by consuming arginine,” was recently published in Cell Host & Microbe and explores the complex relationship between gut bacteria and immune responses, particularly how certain bacteria can hinder the body’s natural ability to fight tumors.
Dr. Randall was awarded for his outstanding contributions to the research mission of the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center (OCCC) at UAB at the OCCC Research Retreat on October 18, 2024.
Aaron Lucander, MD-PhD graduate trainee, presented his poster titled “Structural Identification of Immunodominant HLA Epitopes Targeted by Class I HLA-Specific Antibodies in Kidney Allograft Recipients” at the American Society of Nephrology conference on October 22, 2024.
The 11th Annual Southeastern Immunology Symposium was held at the Red Mountain Theatre on August 16-17, 2024 and out of 208 abstract submissions, several lab members were chosen for their outstanding research.
Eddie-Williams Owiredu won the Beckman Coulter Young Investigator Oral Presentation Award
Susana Cheetham and Christopher Risley won the AAI Young Investigator Poster Award.
Xinran Wang won the People’s Choice Award.
Eddie-Williams Owiredu gave an oral presentation at the Graduate Biomedical Sciences and Joint Health Sciences 2024 Research Symposium on August 9. At the GBS Symposium, students presented their research in three formats: oral presentations, flash talk presentations, and a poster session. Students across all themes presented their research to postdoc judges, faculty, and peers.
Eddie-Williams Owiredu won 2nd place for the oral presentation.
The “Robert Stroud Advanced Immunology Trainee Seminar” was held on May 16th, 2024. Immunology trainees compete for this excellent opportunity to present their studies to an intelligent, critical but friendly home crowd by submitting an abstract. This year, Eddie-Williams Owiredu (Mentor: Frances E. Lund, PhD, Microbiology) won the competition and gave a 20 minute presentation, followed by a 5 minute questions and answers session.
The title of Eddie-William Owiredu’s presentation is “The effect of IRF1 on B cell dynamics and autoimmunity”.
Congratulations to Olivia Johnston, a senior from the Lund lab, for winning the second place of in-person poster presentation and the third place of video research award at the UAB Spring Reesearch Expo 2024.
The Distingushed Fellows program, established in 2019, annually recognizes members for distinguished careers and outstanding scientific contributions as well as service to AAI and the immunology community. It honors active, long-term members (25 or more years) who have demonstrated one or more of the following: excellence in research accomplishment in the field of immunology; exceptional leadership to the immunology community in academia, foundations, nonprofits, industry, or government, at a national or international level; notable distinction as an educator. Election as a Distinguished Fellow occurs annually and is among the highest honors bestowed by AAI.
Find more about the Distinguished Fellows of AAI—Class of 2024.
Aaron Lucander made to the finals of the UAB 3 Minute Thesis competition and presented the transplant project on Nov. 9, 2023.
