Explore immunology with IMMCG
The Immunology Center of Georgia welcomes all campus faculty, researchers and staff to two kinds of conversations, organized by IMMCG scientists Kunzhe Dong, PhD, and Peipei Zhu, PhD.
- Research in Progress is a presentation and discussion about what’s new and what’s next in immunology research. These presentations take place each Tuesday in the Georgia Cancer Center's M. Bert Storey Research Building on the first-floor in the Knox Foundation Community Room, CN1209 (unless otherwise posted).
- Journal Club showcases recent groundbreaking immunology papers, presented by a member of the IMMCG team. These presentations take place each Friday in the Georgia Cancer Center's M. Bert Storey Research Building on the first-floor in room CN1203 (unless otherwise posted).
These events are exclusively for students, faculty and staff in the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University and Wellstar MCG Health.
Upcoming Events
Jing Wang, MD, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Zhu Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, March 27, at 11:00 a.m., EC2237
Title: "Maternal Diet Alters Long-term Innate Immune Cell Memory in Fetal and Juvenile Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells in Nonhuman Primate Offspring"
Past Events
2026
Kathy Li
- MD/PhD Student
- Molecular Oncology & Immunology
- Liu Lab and Kaplan Lab, NIH-AU Graduate Partnership Program
Research in Progress
Tuesday, March 24
Title: "Investigations into Myeloid-Mediated Trogocytosis of Tumor Cells"
Qingkang Lyu, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, March 20
Title: "Opposing Functions of Distinct Regulatory T Cell Subsets in Colorectal Cancer"
Megh Mehta
- Graduate Research Assistant
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Tuesday, March 17
Title: "Using CITE-SEQ From PBMCS to Identify Whether Surface Protein-Gene Expression Correlations Help Characterize CVD"
Bowen Hou, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Gascoigne Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, March 13
Title: "Sensitive CAR T Cells Redefine Targetable CD70 Expression in Solid Tumors"
Farjana Sharmen
- Graduate Research Assistant
- Orecchioni Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Tuesday, March 10
Title: "Role of Olfr2 in Antigen presentation and T Cell Activation Promoting Atherosclerosis"
Devadatta Gosavi
- Graduate Research Assistant
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Tuesday, March 3
Title: "Co-ordinated Interplay of Kindlin3 and Talin1 during β2 Integrin Activation"
Khalia Cummings
- Graduate Research Assistant
- Orecchioni Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Tuesday, February 24
Title: "Olfactory Receptor 2 Signaling Enhances Monocyte and Macrophage Chemotactic Migration to the Dysfunction Endothelium in Atherosclerotic Aorta"
Jiang Zhou, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Chiang Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, February 20
Title: "Tumour-reactive Heterotypic CD8 T cell Clusters from Clinical Samples"
Lily Liu
- Graduate Research Assistant
- Chaing Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Tuesday, February 17
Title: "Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor Drives Acinar-to-ductal Metaplasia in Pancreatic Cancer"
Gabriel Valentin-Guillama, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Hedrick Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, February 13
Title: "DNA-damaging Chemotherapy Reshapes Cardiac-resident Macrophage Composition and Function"
Abdul Musah Basit
- Graduate Research Assistant
- Gascoigne Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, February 6
Title: "Multiplex Engineering using MicroRNA-Mediated Gene Silencing in CAR T Cells"
Austin Lowery
- Graduate Research Assistant
- Hedrick Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, January 30
Title: "Pan-Cancer Single-cell Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals CD83 as a Hallmark of Tumor-Associated Neutrophils with Senescent and Pro-tumor Properties"
Xuemei "Fiona" Xie, MD, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Tuesday, January 27
Title: "CITE-seq Reveals Enrichment of Cytotoxic CD4⁺ T Cells in Atherosclerotic Plaques"
Khalia Cummings
- Graduate Research Assistant
- Orecchioni Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, January 23
Title: TBA
Aderonke Fakayode
- Graduate Research Assistant
- Hedrick Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, January 16
Title: TBA
Bowen Hou, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Gascoigne Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Tuesday, January 13
Title: "3-Dimensional Characterization of Thymic Lymphatics as a Novel Egress Route for Mature Thymocytes"
2025
David Mysona, MD
- Gynecologic Oncology Fellow and
- Faculty Instructor, Obstetrics
- and Gynecology
- Faculty Instructor, Center
- for Biotechnology and Genomic
- Medicine
- Georgia Cancer Center
Research in Progress
Friday, February 28
Title: "T Cells and Endometrial Cancer: An Uncoventional Cell Meets an Unconventional Immunologist"
Megh Mehta
- Graduate Student
- Molecular Oncology and Immunology Program
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, February 28
Title: "IFNy-Induction of TH1-Like Regulatory T Cells Controls Antiviral Responses"
Nandeeni Suryawanshi, MS
- Research Associate
- Chiang Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Thursday, February 20
Title: "Towards Antigens and Biomarkers Identification in Sarcoidosis: A Comprehensive Systems Immunology Framework"
Qingkang Lyu, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, February 21
Title: "IL-23 Stabilizes an Effector Treg Cell Program in the Tumor Microenvironment"
Apeksha Anand, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Shi Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, February 14
Title: "Integrative Genotyping of Cancer and Immune Phenotypes by Long-Read Sequencing"
Adil Ijaz, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Orecchioni Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Thursday, February 13
Title: "Olfr2 Regulates oxLDL Signaling and Processing, Driving a Proinflammatory Foamy Macrophage Phenotype"
Suchen Yadav, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, February 7
Title: "Homeostatic, Non-Canonical Role of Macrophage Elastase in Vascular Integrity"
Layne Benson
- Graduate Research Assistant
- Hedrick and Orecchioni Labs, Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Friday, February 6
Title: “OLFR2-Expressing Myeloid Cells Modulate T Cell Activation and Response in the Tumor Microenvironment"
Gabriel Valentin-Guillama, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Hedrick Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, January 31st
Title: “Cancer Cells Impair Monocyte-Mediated T Cell Stimulation to Evade Immunity"
Lily Liu
- Graduate Research Assistant
- Chiang Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, January 24
Title: "Systematic Comparison of Sequencing Based Spatial Transcriptomic Methods"
Jiang Zhou, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Chiang Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Thursday, January 23
Title: "Discovery of Novel Combinatory Biomarkers for Athersclerosis"
Anusha Bellapu, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Thursday, January 16
Title: "Treg to exTreg Conversion"
2024
Yan Wang, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, November 22
Title: "Distinct Bidirectional Regulation of LFA1 and α4β7 by Rap1 and Integrin Adaptors in T cells Under Shear Flow”
Austin Lowery
- 2nd year PhD
- Student
- Biochemistry and Cancer Biology Graduate Program
Research in Progress
Thursday, November 21
Title: “Spatial Analysis of NETotic Activity in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC)”
Ruibo Cai, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, November 15
Title: "Long noncoding RNA LIRIL2R Modulates FOXP3 Levels and Suppressive Function of Human CD4+ Regulatory T Cells by Regulating IL2RA”
Aderonke Fakayode
- MOI,
- PhD Student
- Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, November 14
Title: “GENE EXPRESSION PROFILING IN IMMUNE CELLS OF PATIENTS WITH CORONARY ARTERY DISEASES”
Austin Lowery
- 2nd year PhD
- Student
- Biochemistry and Cancer Biology Graduate Program
September 27, 2024
Friday, September 27
Title: “CXCR6 ORCHESTRATES BRAIN CD8+ T CELL RESIDENCY AND LIMITS MOUSE ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE PATHOLOGY”
William B. Kiosses, PhD
- Program Projects Core Microscopy
- Director and Senior Staff Scientist,
- La Jolla Institute for Immunology
September 24, 2024
Tuesday, September 24
Title: “IMAGING THE SACRIFICIAL NEUTROPHIL IMMUNE RESPONSE”
Ruibo Cai, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Immunology Center of Georgia
September 19, 2024
Thursday, September 19
Title: “Crosstalk between Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells and Immune Cells in Atherosclerosis”
Gabriel Valentin-Guillama, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Immunology Center of Georgia
September 12, 2024
Thursday, September 12
Title: "Exploring the Role of CXCR3+ Monocytes in Enhancing Anti-Tumor Immunity in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Models”
Mohammad Oliaeimotlagh, MD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Immunology Center of Georgia
September 6, 2024
Friday, September 6
Title: “TARGETING PRO-INFLAMMATORY T CELLS AS A NOVEL THERAPEUTIC APPROACH TO POTENTIALLY RESOLVE ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN HUMANS”
Khalia Cummings
- Biomedical Sciences
- PhD Student,
- VBC, IMMCG, MCG, AU
September 5, 2024
Thursday, September 5
Title: "The Role of Olfactory Receptor 2 in the Initiation and Progression of Atherosclerosis”
Gabriel Valentin-Guillama, PhD
- PhD Candidate
- Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, August 30
Title: "ZBTB46 COORDINATES ANGIOGENESIS AND IMMUNITY TO CONTROL TUMOR OUTCOME”
Ogacheko Okoko
- PhD Candidate
- Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Friday, August 23
Title: "Persistent STAT5 activation reprograms the epigenetic landscape in CD4+ T cells to drive polyfunctionality and antitumor immunity”
Yan Wang, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, June 13
Title: “TALIN AND KINDLIN COOPERATE TO CONTROL THE DENSITY OF INTEGRIN CLUSTERS”
Rudolf Lucas, PhD
- VBC,
- Department, Pharmacology & Toxicology,
- AU
Research Seminar
Tuesday, June 11
Title: "A NOVEL PEPTIDE-BASED THERAPEUTICSTRATEGY TOWARDS ARDS"
Smriti Parashar, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, May 30
Title: “Mitochondrial Complex III is Essential for Suppressive Function of Regulatory T Cells”
Qingkang Lyu, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, May 16
Title: "Regulatory T Cells Restrain Interleukin-2- and Blimp-1-Dependent Acquisition of Cytotoxic Function by
CD4+ T Cells"
Kunzhe Dong, PhD
- Assistant Professor
- Dong Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
- Department of Pharmacology and
- Toxicology, Medical Collge of Georgia
Research in Progress
Thursday, May 9
Title: "Long Non-Coding RNAs and Cellular Crosstalk in Vascular Diseases"
Ogacheko Okoko
- PhD Candidate
- Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, April 30, 12:00 p.m.
Title: "IL7 Increases Targeted Lipid Nanoparticle-Mediated MRNA Expression in T Cells In Vitro and In Vivo by Enhancing T Cell Protein Translation"
Phillip Coffey
- Weintraub Lab, Vascular Biology Center
Research in Progress
Thursday, March 21, 12:00 p.m.
Title: "Cooperative Role of Circulating Myeloperoxidase and Nox4 in the Pathogenesis of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms"
Mohammad Oliaeimotlagh
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, February 29, 12:00 p.m.
Title: "Dissecting Cell Identity Via Network Inference and in Silico Gene Perturbation”
Sunil Kumar
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Thursday, March 7, 12:00 p.m.
Title: "Identification of candidate biomarkers for Coronary Artery Disease by Spectral Flow-cytometry"
Mohammad Oliaeimotlagh, MD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, February 29
Title: “Dissecting Cell Identify Via Network Inference and in Silico Gene Perturbation"
Layne Benson
- Graduate Student
- Hedrick Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, February 29
Title: "SLAN+ Monocytes Kill Cancer Cells Coated in Therapeutic Antibody by Trogoptosis"
Amir Khan
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Thursday, February 22
Title: "Pro-Inflammatory Gene Expression Changes with Age in Men and Women With and Without Coronary Artery Disease”
Megh Mehta
- Graduate Student
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, February 15
Title: "Talin and kindlin Use Integrin Tail Allostery and Direct Binding to Activate Integrins"
Natalia Jaeger, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Hedrick Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, February 1
Title: "Macrophage and neutrophil heterogeneity at single-cell spatial resolution in human inflammatory bowel disease"
Adil Rasheed, PhD
- Assistant Professor
- Rasheed Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Research in Progress
Thursday, January 18
Title: "Mixed Lineage Kinase Domain-Like Protein: An Immunometabolic Nexus of Cardiovascular Disease"
Peter Biggs, PhD
- Graduate Research
- Assistant
Journal Club
Thursday, January 18
Title: "NAD+ Regulates Nucleotide Metabolism and Genomic DNA Replication"
Kunal Kumar, PhD
- Post Doctoral Fellow
- Singh Lab, Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Research in Progress
Thursday, January 11
Title: "UFL1 Regulates T Cells Exhaustion"
2023
Amir Khan, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Georgia Cancer Center
Journal Club
Thursday, December 7
Title: “RIMODAL Single-Cell Profiling Reveals a Novel Pediatric CD8αα+ T Cell Subset and Broad Age-Related Molecular Reprogramming Across the T Cell Comparement"
Mohammad Yeashin Gazi, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Georgia Cancer Center
Journal Club
Thursday, November 16
Title: “Vaccine-boosted Car T Crosstalk With Host Immunity To Reject Tumors With Antigen Heterogeneity”
Francis Anazodo
- Graduate Student
- Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Journal Club
Thursday, November 2
Title: “Regulation of the Terminal Maturation Of iNKT Cells By Mediator Complex Subunit 23”
Kunal Kumar, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Singh Lab, Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Journal Club
Thursday, October 19
Title: “MYB Orchestrates T Cell Exhaustion And Response to Checkpoint Inhibition”
Ogacheko Okoko
- PhD Candidate
- Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, October 5
Title: “Epitope Base Editing CD45 in Hematopoietic Cells enables Universal Blood Cancer Immune Therapy”
Sunil Kumar, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, September 7
Title: “TCF-1 regulates HIV-Specific CD8+ T cell Expansion Capacity”
Layne Benson
- Graduate Student
- Hedrick Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, August 24
Title: "Single-cell RNA-sequencing identifies anti-cancer immune phenotypes in the early lung metastatic niche during breast cancer”
Yan Wang, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, April 13
Title: "Flow cytometry based-FRET: basics, novel developments and future perspectives”
Qingkang Lyu, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, March 30
Title: "Talin variant P229S compromises integrin activation and associates with multifaceted clinical symptoms”
Kunal Kumar, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Singh Lab, Dept. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Journal Club
Thursday, March 9
Title: "Deletion of SNX9 alleviates CD8 T cell exhaustion for effective cellular cancer immunotherapy”
Sunil Kumar, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow
- Ley Lab, Immunology Center of Georgia
Journal Club
Thursday, February 23
Title: "A critical role for TCF-1 in T-lineage specification and differentiation”