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Current Lab Members
Justin Richner
Principle Investigator
I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Washington University in St. Louis. During my undergraduate time, I worked in the lab of Dr. Barbara Kunkel studying the plant pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This research sparked my love of microbiology and my specific interest in host-pathogen interactions. I then moved to the West Coast and entered the PhD program in the Plant & Microbial Biology Department at the University of California Berkeley. Here I joined the laboratory of Dr. Britt Glaunsinger where I worked on herpesviruses and mRNA turnover. From my graduate research, I became interested in viruses and decided to pursue a postdoc focused on the immune response to viral infections. I joined the lab of Dr. Michael Diamond at WashU where I investigated immune mediators of flavivirus pathogenesis and vaccine development. We continue research efforts in these areas in my current lab at UIC.
Graduate Student
Clayton Wollner
I completed my Bachelor of Science at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where I double majored in Biology and Conservation Environmental Science and minored in Chemistry. I've been interested in vaccinology research since learning about the Red Queen hypothesis as an undergraduate. My research project in the Richner lab involves developing and characterizing a novel mRNA vaccine against dengue virus.
I graduated from Michigan State University with a Bachelors of Science in Molecular Genetics and Genomics. Currently, I am working towards my PhD in the Richner lab. During my laboratory rotation, I became interested in the development of immune responses against West Nile virus (WNV). WNV is the most common mosquito-borne virus in the U.S.; however, infections are most severe in the elderly population, whose immune systems are weakened. Within the lymph node, protective immune responses are initiated with the help of lymph node stromal cells (LNSCs). Using WNV, the goal of my research is to understand how LNSCs are impacted during viral infection within adult and aged immune systems. Ultimately, the hope is to improve our scientific understanding of viral immunity and guiding strategies to enhance immune responses within older individuals.
Graduate Student
Jake Class
I obtained my Bachelors of Science in Biotechnology at Frostburg State University in Maryland. After working for a couple years I returned to get my Master's of Science in Microbiology at the University of South Florida in Tampa. From there I worked at a BSL-4 facility under NIAID for two years until coming here to UIC. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our lab set up two BSL-3 facilities here on campus and I have been doing SARS-CoV-2 research since then. My research focus centers around the humoral immune response and viral evolution during acute SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Ally Bennett
Graduate Student
Enzo Lamontia-Hankin
Graduate Student
I graduated with a Bachelors of Science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, double majoring in Biochemistry and Microbiology. I developed an interest in vaccine development and virology through my undergraduate research experiences. My research in the Richner lab aims to develop and optimize a vaccine against Dengue virus. Dengue virus infects nearly 400 million people annually so the development of an effective vaccine is of the utmost importance.
Tanmayee Vegesna
Research Technician
I graduated from the University of Illinois Chicago with a major in Neuroscience and double minors in Linguistics and Philosophy. Learning about antibody dependent enhancement in high school pushed me to pursue research in that domain. During my time as an undergraduate researcher in the Richner lab, my project aimed to generate a better Dengue virus epitope via creating a mutation in the envelope protein to yield antibodies with better neutralizing capabilities to be incorporated into a novel vaccination strategy. Currently, I am working as a research tech during my gap year.
Madeline Mun
Undergraduate Student
Former Lab Members
Michelle Richner
Lab Manager
I completed my Bachelors of Arts at the University of California at Berkeley in Integrative Biology. I started out as a tech in the tissue culture facility at UC Berkeley and then as lab manager for Dr. Andrew Yoo at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, where I learned and optimized direct reprogramming of human fibroblasts in neurons by overexpressing miR-9 and miR-124 and other transcription factors. I was the lab manager for the Richner lab and have helped out with all projects within the lab, including mRNA vaccine development, ex-vivo lymph node stromal cell culture, and SARS-CoV-2 research. I have also helped maintain and set up our department’s new BSL3 facility. I am now a biosafety officer within UIC’s EHSO.
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