Immunology Graduate Program

The Immunology Graduate Program (ImmGP) is an inter-departmental program within the University of Cincinnati (UC) and Cincinnati Children’s that offers PhD and MS degrees in Immunology. The program is managed by Director Dr. David Hildeman, and a steering committee composed of members of several departments/divisions at Cincinnati Children's and UC. Dr. Jonathan Katz is the Director of the MS program. Notably, the ImmGP is partially supported through an NIH T32 training grant, “Pathogenesis and therapeutic targeting of Immune disorders”.

Our Vision

Our vision is to be a leader in immunology graduate education, to provide outstanding research training in immunology, and to train the next generation of leaders in the field of immunology.

To realize this vision, we strive to compete for the best students, to provide them with rigorous, extensive training, and to maintain outstanding, well-funded faculty that are committed to graduate education.

To accomplish this vision, we provide broadly based instruction in immunology, along with rigorous research training that emphasizes cutting-edge approaches to understanding the function of the immune system in health and disease.

To this end, the program currently has 54 faculty members from four UC departments and 18 Cincinnati Children's divisions. We currently have 44 outstanding students (Six MD/PhD, 27 PhD students and 11 MS students) from around the country and abroad.

This academic year we celebrated the graduation of four PhD students and four MS students. Our students have distinguished themselves this year by receiving several travel and research awards and published 33 papers over the past year.

The program is supported financially by a variety of sources. This year, tuition support was provided through University Graduate Scholarships awarded by UC. Student stipends were supported through a variety of sources including funds from an NIH T32 training grant, UC, NIH NRSA grants, external grants to their advisors, and funds from Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation.

External Review and Immunology Retreat

In the fall of 2019, the ImmGP underwent an external review led by the UC-COM.

Our reviewers were Kristin Hogquist, PhD, an accomplished immunologist with extensive experience in graduate training in immunology, and Theresa Culley, PhD, an exceptional biologist with intricate knowledge of the academic landscape at UC. The reviewers spent a day on campus, meeting with faculty and students, and evaluated every aspect of the program, including faculty and funding; coursework; student progress, productivity, and career trajectory; program leadership; institutional support; and research facilities.

Overall, the program was graded as outstanding. Among many other comments, the reviewers specifically highlighted: “strong national reputation of the program”, “outstanding program leadership”, “outstanding research facilities”, “outstanding student publications”, “current student body is admirably diverse”, “the vitality and productivity of the students was also judged to be outstanding, and on par with the top 10 immunology programs in the country”.

The reviewers also had a few minor suggestions for improvement, including expanding the current applicant pool, accepting 1-2 more students per year, and enhancing course evaluation. We are currently working on making these improvements.

We also had an Immunology Retreat at Huston Woods in 2019. The retreat was a fantastic success with over 160 participants. Several students, post-docs, and faculty gave oral research presentations and we had over 50 posters presented. Multiple collaborations were established as a result of the retreat.

International Research Training Group

In spring 2013, the ImmGP established an International Research Training Group (IRTG) with the University of Lübeck/Research Center Borstel in Lübeck, Germany. Largely due to the dedication and stellar research programs of the faculty here at Cincinnati Children's and at the University of Lübeck/Research Center Borstel, this international grant was renewed after an on-site review in Lubeck in 2017.

The research focus of the IRTG is:

1. Humoral and Cellular Pathways of Allergic Inflammation
2. Immuno-regulation of infection-driven inflammation

ImmGP students interested in research projects encompassed by these areas may have the opportunity to study and perform research in the beautiful city of Lübeck in north-central Germany for a 3-6 month period.

In 2019, seven faculty and two ImmGP students attended the bi-annual IRTG retreat in Heiligenhaven, Germany to share scientific progress and continue ongoing collaborations with German Colleagues.  All ImmGP students in attendance gave talks and chaired sessions in the retreat.

The SARS-CoV2 pandemic really presented an unprecedented challenge to our students and their research and academic efforts. Major kudos to our outstanding program coordinator, Isabel Castro and our course directors, Jonathan Katz, Rana Herro, and Ian Lewkowich for working together to facilitate remote learning options. This has enabled our students to stay on pace, managing to adapt to some virtual lab rotations, and working on manuscripts, despite the lab closures for several months. In fact, during the down time some of our students aided in the development of a SARS-CoV2 ELISA that is being used to assess the serology of employees and people in the community

Doctoral Students

Students in bold graduated with their PhD.

MS Students

Student Awards

Ayad Ali 2017

• Albert J. Ryan Fellowship
• Travel award, AAI 2020, Honolulu, Hawaii

Melanie McKell 2017

• Albert J. Ryan Fellowship
• Graduate Student Government Research Fellowship, University of Cincinnati, 02/2020

Ben Weinhaus 2017

• Lay Judge Distinction at the UC Grad research fair in 2018

Rebecca Crowther 2018

• Grants for Emerging Researchers and Clinical Mentorship (GERM) Award, Infectious Diseases Society of America/HIV Medical Association, 06/2019
• 2nd Prize Poster Presentation Award, Ohio River Valley Cytometry Association Annual Meeting, 08/2019
• 3rd Prize Poster Presentation Award, 40th Annual Graduate Student Research Forum, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 11/2019
• Graduate Student Government Research Fellowship, University of Cincinnati, 02/2020
• AAP/ASCI Joint Meeting Travel Award, 2020 AAP/ASCI/APSA Annual Meeting, 04/2020

Corinne Foley 2016

• Graduate Student Government Research Fellowship, University of Cincinnati, 02/2020

Adri Wilburn 2016

• Graduate Student Government Research Fellowship, University of Cincinnati, 02/2020

Hanna Meibers 2018

• Travel award, AAI 2020, Honolulu, Hawaii 

Sharmila Shanmuganad 2015

• 1’st place Oral presentation award : “The role of Bcl-2 family members in survival of agonist selected thymocytes”,  Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Annual Immunology retreat, Cincinnati,  9/12/2019

Presentations

Rachel Cantrell

• Unveiling a Role for Thrombin in Promoting CD8+ T cell Responses in Cancer. Annual Immunology Retreat. College Corner, OH, 09/2019
• Thrombin Tips the Balance towards Effective Immune Checkpoint Inhibition Therapy. International Conference on Thrombosis and Hemostasis Issues in Cancer. Bergamo, Italy, 04/2021 Postponed due to COVID-19

Rebecca Crowther

• Effect of L-citrulline supplementation on CD4+ T cell responses during pulmonary Mycobacterium bovis BCG immunization. American Physician Scientist Association Annual Meeting Chicago, IL, 04/2019
• Sharing is Caring: How Dendritic Cells Supply CD4+ T cells with L-arginine. Ohio River Valley Cytometry Association Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH, 08/2019
• Sharing is Caring: How Dendritic Cells Supply CD4+ T cells with L-arginine Annual Immunology Retreat, Immunology Graduation Program, Cincinnati, OH, 09/2019
• Sharing is Caring: How Dendritic Cells Supply CD4+ T cells with L-arginine. 40th Annual Graduate Student Research Forum, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, 11/2019
• Sharing is Caring: How Dendritic Cells Supply CD4+ T cells with L-arginine. Autumn Immunology Conference, Chicago, IL, 11/2019
  Alyssa Thomas 2016
• Age-associated phagocytic dysfunction in microglia. Autumn Immunology Conference. Chicago, IL. 10/2019

Jarren Oates 2017

• Peroxisomal β-Oxidation in Inflammatory Responsiveness: A metabolic link to disease pathogenesis”, International Research Training Group (IRTG) Retreat, Presenter, Heiligenhafen, Germany October 2019 (Oral Presentation)

Audrey Crowther 2018

• Discovery of novel prognostic subtypes of lung adenocarcinoma using unbiased RNA splicing pattern analysis. Autumn Immunology Conference. Chicago, IL. 11/2019

Hannah Meibers 2018

• Vps33B is a crucial regulator of Type I Interferon response downstream of the cGAS-STING pathway, AAI, Honolulu, Hawaii 2020 Oral and Poster presentation invited but conference was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Ayad Ali 2017

• AAI, Honolulu, Hawaii 2020 Oral and Poster presentation invited but conference was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Sharmila Shanmuganad 2015

• The role of Bcl-2 family members in survival of agonist selected thymocytes, Cincinnati Children's Annual Immunology retreat, Cincinnati, 9/2019