Bio
Jackie is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Markey Cancer Center at the University of Kentucky under Dr. Subbarao Bondada. As an undergraduate she worked with Dr. Amy Andreotti (2009-2012) researching interactions between proteins downstream of the T cell receptor. During this time Jackie participated in multiple SURS, and was the chair in 2011-2012. She obtained her Ph.D. in Immunology from UT Southwestern Medical Center with Dr. Nancy Monson (2012-2017), studying B cell responses in early Multiple Sclerosis. Here she discovered that patients experiencing their first clinical symptoms in adulthood display humoral autoimmunity to neurons, while those with pediatric onset show preference for astrocytes. Now as a post-doctoral researcher, Jackie is sponsored by a fellowship from the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to study methods of enhancing antitumor immunity in B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia. She discovered that immunosuppressive cytokines can be targeted to improve T cell anti-tumor immunity and responses to immunotherapy, and plans to continue pursuing research on the anti-tumor effects of T cells in an academic career.