Principal Investigator
Dr. Catherine Blish presenting at Immunology's 30th Anniversary Celebration in 2019.
Dr. Catherine Blish
Professor of Medicine
Division of Infectious Diseases & Geographic Medicine
Dr. Blish is an associate program director of the Stanford MD-PhD program, an investigator of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, Member of Bio-X and Member of Maternal & Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI).
She received her B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis, and a M.D. and a Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Washington. She performed postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Julie Overbaugh before moving to Stanford in late 2011.
Lab Staff
Postdocs
Clinical and Research
Trisha Barnard
Trisha received her BS in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of British Columbia and her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from McGill University. For her Ph.D. research, she studied the effects of evolutionarily-acquired polymorphisms on Zika virus RNA accumulation with Dr. Selena Sagan. In the Blish lab, she plans to study how heterogeneity in viral replication at the single-cell level affects the immune response to coronavirus infection. In her free time, Trisha can probably be found knitting, sewing, baking, or hiking.
Jacob Schrum
Jacob is a clinical postdoctoral fellow in infectious diseases at Stanford. He completed his MD/PhD at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. His PhD work, performed in the laboratory of Dr. Douglas Golenbock, focused on the innate immune response to malarial infection. He then moved to Stanford to complete his internal medicine residency and infectious diseases fellowship training as a member of the Stanford Translational Investigator Program. In the Blish Lab, he is utilizing single-cell techniques and organoid models to better understand the immune response in chronic, treated HIV infection. Outside of the lab, Jacob enjoys playing golf and spending time with his wife and two young sons.
Ruoxi Pi
Ruoxi received her BS in Biological Sciences in Zhejiang University in China, where she conducted research in the polyphasic taxonomy of anaerobic bacteria. She received her Ph.D. in Yale University, where she studied the early events of retrovirus infection in animal models. Now in the Blish lab, she is investigating NK cell responses during HIV-1 infection and engineering NK cells to target HIV. Outside the lab, she enjoys hiking and playing her musical instrument.
Shaun Pienkos
Shaun is a Pulmonary and Critical Care fellow at Stanford. He completed medical school at Temple University in Philadelphia and then moved to Stanford for his residency and fellowship training. While at Stanford, he previously worked on research projects with the Pulmonary Hypertension and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome research groups before joining the Blish Lab. Shaun is motivated by a limited immunological understanding of many pulmonary diseases and critical care syndromes, such as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, and will focus on computational methods to answer questions about clinically observed phenotypes at a molecular level. He is co-mentored by Statistics Professor Susan Holmes.
Instructors
Graduate Students
Leslie Chan
Leslie received her AB in Molecular biology at Princeton, where she did her undergraduate thesis research on HBV replication in Dr. Alexander Ploss’s lab. In the Blish lab, she is studying NK cells’ antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity response and how this is modulated by viral infection and vaccination. Outside of the lab, she enjoys playing frisbee, hiking, reading, and volunteering on the leadership team of the non-profit, Hatch Tutors.
Xariana D. Vales Torres
Xariana received her BS in Cellular-Molecular Biology from the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras. There, they worked on understanding platelet functions during cardiovascular diseases. Additionally, she gained experience in T cell biology and infectious diseases in summer research programs. In the Blish lab, they now focus on understanding how viral infections reprogram the host innate immune response. Outside the lab, she enjoys family-time with her siblings, reading, crocheting, going to the beach, and occasionally hiking.
Email: xvalesto@stanford.edu
Izumi de los Rios Kobara
Izumi received her B.S. from MIT in Biological Engineering where she completed her thesis research on localized cancer immunotherapies with Dr. Dane Wittrup. In the Blish lab she is studying how NK cells influence antibody breadth in HIV and COVID-19 to inform vaccine design. Outside of the lab she enjoys backpacking and biking around California and cooking good food.
Maïgane Diop
Maïgane received her BS in Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she studied transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in the nematode C. elegans. Now an MSTP student, she is co-mentored by Catherine Blish and Brice Gaudillière, studying immune cells at the maternal-fetal interface and in reproductive organ diseases. Outside of the lab, she enjoys singing/songwriting, playing instruments, learning languages, and tackling challenging recipes.
Sarah Sackey
Sarah received her B.S in Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics from UCLA. Her undergraduate work focused on developing a bioinformatic pipeline to identify promoter/enhancer elements to develop lentivirus based gene therapy options for congenital immunodeficiencies. In the Blish lab, she is interested in developing a method to enhance natural killer cell function and survival. Outside of the lab, Sarah enjoys dancing, watching anime and cooking.
Anthony Cort
Anthony received his B.S. in Cell, Molecular, Developmental Biology from the University of California, Riverside, where he began his passion for infectious diseases in Dr. Karine Le Roch’s Lab investigating P. falciparum. Now, he is a medical student in the PSTP program and has begun a long-term research project investigating human coronaviruses’ (including SARS-CoV-2) ability to modulate NK cell responses. When not in the lab or in the clinic, Anthony enjoys spending time crocheting, watching anime, trying new food places, and hanging out with his friends (and their pets).
Email: acort@stanford.edu
Research Assistants
Noah Cruz
Noah earned dual B.S. degrees in Biological Sciences and Psychology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His research experience spans various fields, including bioinformatics, biochemistry, and neurocritical care. Specifically, he worked on the biophysical characterization of BqsR, a response regulator in Pseudomonas aeruginosa's two-component system, BqsR/S. Noah also served as a clinical research assistant, investigating the relationship between stroke morbidity, cognitive function, and socioeconomic status in patients with intracerebral hemorrhages. As a Stanford Medicine Post-baccalaureate Scholar, Noah will conduct research in immunology before applying to medical school to pursue an M.D. or M.D./Ph.D. Outside the lab, Noah enjoys being a plant-dad, cooking, traveling, and swimming.
Uma Mangalanathan
Uma received her MS in Human Biology from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark where her research was focused on developing and optimizing anti-cancer treatment using electroporation techniques. She specializes in molecular and cell biology, electrophysiology & genetics. Before joining the Blish lab, she spent 5 years working as a research associate at Old Dominion University in the field of cell physiology and Biophysics. She currently collaborates primarily on COVID-19 projects, involving CyTOF and BSL3 work, in addition to her lab management duties. Outside work, she enjoys hiking, cooking, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.uma93@stanford.edu
Undergraduates
Michelle Nguyen
Michelle is a fourth-year undergraduate student at Stanford University pursuing a B.A. in Psychology. In the Blish lab, under the mentorship of Trisha Barnard, Michelle studies the role of HLA and KIR variability in the immune response to Zika virus. In her free time, she likes to try out new cafes and watch romcoms.
Elizabeth Hong
Elizabeth is a third-year undergraduate student at Stanford University pursuing a B.S. in Bioengineering and Computer Science. She has previous research experience in computational neuroscience studying hippocampal place cell remapping using neural networks, and clinical research on nicotine addiction. In the Blish lab, she investigates how adjuvants affect NK cell function to improve vaccination strategies. She is mentored by Izumi de Los Rios Kobara. Outside the lab, she enjoys figure skating, exploring nature, and singing with her acapella group.
Lab Alumni
and where they are now
Soneida DeLine-Caballero,- Dr. Kalani Ratnasiri, Postdoctoral fellow in the Jia Lab at Genetech
- Dr. Arjun Rustagi, Assistant Professor at UCSF School of Medicine
- Dr. Maddie Lee, Postdoctoral Scholar with Jeff Miller and Frank Cichocki at the University of Minnesota
- Dr. Rebecca Hamlin, Physician Scientist
- Dr. Kassandra Pinedo, Pediatric Resident
- Mikayla Stabile
- Marion Santo, Masters Student in Biology
- Dr. Makeda Robinson, Principal Scientist, Clinical Research – Translational Medicine Division, Merck & Co.
- Michelle Leong, CS student
- Dr. Giovanny J. Martinez-Colon, scientist at Merck
- Dr. Aaron Wilk, currently finishing MD training in Stanford MSTP
- Aimee Beck, Lab Manager and Product Development Technician at Scale Biosciences
- Dr. Anne-Maud Ferreira, current research scientist at Stanford University
- Thanmayi Ranganath, Senior Research Manager at Sonoma Biotherapeutics
- Dr. Geoff Ivison, scientist at Enable Medicine
- Dr. Nancy Zhao, Postdoctoral Researcher at Genome Institute of Singapore
- Dr. Julia McKechnie, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
- Dr. Laura Simpson, Research Scientist at Gilead Sciences
- Taylor Hollis, Research Assistant for Health Equity Research at Stanford Division of Primary Care and Population Health
- Rosemary Vergara, MS/ MD Candidate at Western Michigan University
- Dr. Elena Vendrame, Director of Clinical Research - Virology at Gilead Sciences and Adjunct Clinical Instructor at Stanford University School of Medicine
- Dr. Mathieu Le Gars, Biomarker Lead for Therapeutic HPV & Prophylactic Polio & SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines at Johnson & Johnson
- Dr. Lisa Kronstad, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Midwestern University
- Dr. Susan Canny, Fellow in pediatric rheumatology are Seattle Children’s hospital
- Dr. Christof Seiler, Assistant Professor at Maastricht University
- Dr. Nicholas Bayless, Research Scientist at Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
- Dr. Joanne Lau, Neurology resident at University of California San Diego
- Dr. Dara Strauss-Albee, Data Science Manager at Stripe
- Jacob Shahidi, optometry student at the New England College of Optometry
- Dr. Olivia Hatton, Assistant Professor at Colorado College
- Dr. Alexander Kay, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Director of the Global TB program, Baylor College of Medicine, based in Mbabane, eSwatini
- Dr. Emily Liang, Internal Medicine resident at Stanford Hospital
- Dr. Chin Chen, laboratory manager
- Camille Roque, medical student at UC Davis
- Dr. Lindsay Sceats, surgical resident at Stanford School of Medicine
- Mary Rieck, lab manager for the Bluestone Lab at UCSF
- Dr. Ozge Dogan, Pediatrics resident at UCSF-Fresno