Meet the Team

Dr. Prasanna Jagannathan | Principal Investigator

Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and of Microbiology and Immunology

prasj@stanford.edu

Prasanna Jagannathan, MD, joined the faculty at Stanford University in 2017. Dr. Jagannathan is an infectious disease specialist with a research program in human immunology and infectious diseases.

Following his undergraduate degree in Religious Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, Dr. Jagannathan taught high school science in Los Angeles through Teach for America. He then went to Harvard Medical School to earn his MD, before completing internal medicine residency and infectious diseases fellowship at UCSF. He was a post-doc and junior faculty member in the laboratory of Dr. Margaret Feeney at UCSF prior to joining the faculty at Stanford in 2017.

Dr. Jagannathan's current research program focuses on understanding correlates and mechanisms of naturally acquired immunity to malaria through field-based studies, and to better understand the immunologic consequences of malaria control interventions. His group is also evaluating novel therapeutic strategies for patients with mild to moderate COVID-19.

Life Science Research Professional

Kylie Camanag

Lab Manager

kcamanag@stanford.edu

B.A. Molecular & Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley

Kylie recently graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Molecular & Cell Biology and joined the Jagannathan Lab in August 2022 as a Life Science Research Professional. She is excited to contribute to research on the mechanisms of malaria immunity and intends to further her education by pursuing a graduate degree in the future. Outside the lab, she enjoys playing board games, watching game shows, and going to theme parks.

Aracely Garcia Romero

LSRPI, REACH Post-baccalaureate Scholar

agarciar@stanford.edu

B.S. Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology, Biomedical Research Minor, University of California, Los Angeles
Research Area: immunology, infectious disease

A recent graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles, Aracely is a post baccalaureate scholar interested in immunology and infectious disease. Prior to joining the Jagannathan lab, her interest in working with parasites and infectious disease strengthened after her experience in a lab studying sensory behaviors in parasitic nematodes. Currently, she is excited about understanding how immune cells interact with different stages of the malaria parasite. Outside of the lab, Aracely enjoys spending time with family and friends, writing poetry, volunteering, and exploring new areas.

Staff Scientists

Kattria van der Ploeg, PhD

Basic Life Research Scientist

kvdploeg@stanford.edu

B.Sc. and M.Sc. Biomedical Sciences, University of Leiden
Ph.D. Immunology, University of Cambridge
Research Area: SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses, cytokine production, functional assays, activation induced markers (AIM) assay, single cell RNA sequencing, NK cells

Kattria joined the Jagannathan lab as a postdoc in the fall of 2020. She investigated the SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell response in COVID-19 outpatients (Lambda cohort) and is now interested in investigating the impact of co-infections, like malaria, in the response to SARS-CoV-2 infections in the Ugandan population. During her PhD at University of Cambridge in the UK and her previous postdoc at MSKCC in New York she spent most of her time on investigating and understanding NK cell biology in the setting of CMV infection and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. When she is not in the lab, she spends time organizing events for Stanford postdoc families, hiking and exploring California’s stunning nature.

Postdoctoral Fellows

Florian Bach, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, Walter V. and Idun Berry Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship

fbach@stanford.edu

B.Sc.H. Virology, University of Glasgow
M.Res. Hosts, Pathogens and Global Health, University of Edinburgh
Ph.D. Immunology, University of Edinburgh
Research Area: T Cells, Determinants of Disease Severity, Infant Immune Development, Systems Immunology

During his PhD with Phil Spence in Edinburgh, Florian studied both falciparum and vivax malaria using controlled human (re)infection models, collaborating closely with the groups of Simon Draper, Angela Minassian and Giorgio Napolitani in Oxford. As a hybrid bioinformatician and experimentalist, Florian loves systems immunology for answering complex questions about human health. In the Jagannathan lab, he studies how the human immune response to malaria evolves in infants as they become reinfected and age. He also is interested in how early-life infections, malaria and beyond, may affect vaccine responses and immune development later in life. Florian addresses this question by making use of a longitudinal study cohort of infants receiving monthly chemoprevention in Eastern Uganda, together with our collaborators at UC San Francisco and IDRC Uganda.

Muhammad Abdelbasset, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

basset@stanford.edu

B.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Cairo University
M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Sciences & Immunology, Cairo University
Ph.D. in Immunology, National University of Singapore & Duke-NUS
Research Area: Translational immunology, clinical malaria, functional assays

Basset is a postdoctoral researcher in the Jagannathan lab at Stanford Medicine. His current research focuses on investigating the impact of prenatal malaria exposure on neonatal immune responses, particularly examining TLR signaling in mononuclear phagocytes and the role of NK cells in antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity among malaria-exposed infants.

Nick Zehner, MD

Internal Medicine Resident

nazehner@stanford.edu

B.A. Anderson University
M.Div. Philosophy of Religion, Harvard Divinity School
M.D. Stanford University

Graduate Students

Jason Nideffer

PhD Candidate, Immunology, Stanford Graduate Fellowship

Co-Advisor: Maria Grazia Roncarolo

nideffer@stanford.edu

B.Sc. Microbiology, University of California, San Diego
Research Area: disease tolerance, innate immune memory, Tr1 cells, computational immunology

Jason received a B.Sc. in Microbiology from the University of California, San Diego in 2020. He joined the Jagannathan lab in 2021. Jason's current research investigates mechanisms of innate immune memory and diverse CD4+ T cell populations in the context of disease tolerance to malaria, with long-term interests in trying to understand how parasitic relationships become commensal in the lifetime of a host and as species co-evolve.

Alea Delmastro

PhD Candidate, Immunology

Co-Advisor: Mike Angelo

alead@stanford.edu

B.Sc. Chemical Engineering, Stanford University
M.Sc. Biomedical Informatics, Stanford University
Research Area: Malaria in Pregnancy, Placental Malaria

Alea is interested in studying infectious disease, specifically relating to malaria. In malaria-endemic settings, pregnant women are highly susceptible to severe Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) infection, which can result in placental malaria as well as adverse birth outcomes. Utilizing multiplexed ion beam imaging and other single cell methods, Alea aims to characterize the immune cell infiltrate during placental malaria and better understand the response to Pf at the maternal-fetal interface.

Savannah Lewis

PhD Candidate, Microbiology & Immunology

snlewis@stanford.edu

B.Sc. Biology, Brown University
Research Area: innate immunity, malaria

Savannah Lewis (she/her/hers) is a graduate student interested in the innate immune response to malaria. She received a B.S. from Brown University, where she completed an honors thesis in the lab of Dr. Jeffrey Bailey studying the spatial and temporal distribution of antimalarial drug resistance in Tanzania and Rwanda. Currently, she is using our pregnancy cohort studies to investigate the factors mediating enhanced placental malaria immunity in multigravid mothers. Long term, she looks forward to working with our teams abroad and redefining NK cell biology in the context of malaria.

Undergraduate Students

Nora Yang

Undergraduate Student, Human Biology

norayang@stanford.edu

Research Area: innate immune responses to malaria, CD123+ myeloid cells, emergency myelopoiesis, trained immunity.

Nora is an undergraduate studying Human Biology. She is fascinated by immunological approaches to understanding human health and disease. She is currently working on her honors thesis in the Jagannathan lab with Jason Nideffer studying a novel population of CD123+ myeloid cells in innate immune responses to malaria infection. More broadly, she is interested in exploring how evolving global environments and social systems interact with human and pathogen physiology to influence human health and wellbeing. In her free time, she enjoys backpacking, yoga, and knitting.

Ugandan Team

Stephen Tukwasibwe

Junior investigator at IDRC, Lecturer at Uganda Christian University

stukwasibwe@ucu.ac.ug

M.Sc. Molecular biology, Makerere University
Ph.D. Immunology and molecular biology, Makerere University
Research area: NK cells, KIR, HLA, malaria drug and diagnostic resistance

Stephen Tukwasibwe is a Junior investigator at IDRC interested in studying NK cells and immunity to malaria as well as malaria drug and diagnostic resistance. Over the past 10 years, Stephen has been involved in both training and research focusing on malaria. He is a lecturer in the Department of Biochemistry, School of medicine, Uganda Christian University (UCU). Stephen has won several awards and fellowships including; the Junior Investigator Award at the MU-UCSF-LSHTM-IDRC Junior Investigators Research Symposium for a high ranking MSc project, thrasher early career award to study malaria drug and diagnostic resistance in refugees entering Uganda. Stephen is currently leading a project titled, “the role of antimalarial antibodies in functional modulation of natural killer cell response to malaria” under the mentorship of Dr. Prasanna Jagannathan, Stanford University, USA and Prof. Philip Rosenthal, University of California, San Francisco, USA. Stephen is passionate about malaria research and hopes to develop a malaria research group at UCU.

Namirimu Nankya Felistas

Immunology Laboratory Supervisor

nfelistas@idrc-uganda.org

B.Sc. Biomedical Laboratory Technology, Makerere University
M.Sc. Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Makerere University
Research Area: understanding the development of T follicular helper cells and B cell subsets in children

Felistas is the laboratory manager of the field-based immunology laboratory in Tororo, Uganda. She oversees laboratory activities such as performing immunological assays, supplies inventory, processing cord and peripheral blood mononuclear cells and other sample types for various projects in the lab. Her research focus is studying the development of T follicular helper cells and B cell subsets in children.

She enjoys singing at church, and cooking.

Kenneth Musinguzi

Lab Technician

Kenneth Musinguzi is an immunology laboratory technician working with the infectious diseases research collaboration (IDRC). He is interested in understanding how immunity to malaria develops. He's been with IDRC for 6 years. Kenneth possesses a master's degree in biomedical laboratory sciences and management. He has tremendously contributed research efforts towards IDRC's projects which seek to understand the immunology of malaria infection in pregnant women and children below 5 years. Kenneth has so far co-authored 4 peer reviewed publications during his time in IDRC.

Previously, Kenneth worked as an immunology laboratory technologist at Uganda Virus Research Institute where he gained expertise in the immunology of HIV/AIDS infection. His research efforts led to 3 peer reviewed papers.

Evelyn Nansubuga

Laboratory Technologist

evelynkiberu@gmail.com

B.Sc. Biomedical Laboratory Technology, Makerere University

I am a laboratory technologist working at IDRC in the Immunology laboratory in Tororo funded by Dr. Prasanna Jagannathan. I am working on isolation of PBMCs, TLR experiments, and CD3 experiments all on malaria studies. Ever since college, I've had a passion for research and worked in many research centers across Uganda to mention but a few; Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) research on HIV/AIDS, MRC/UVRI on worms in adolescents. I received an honors degree in Biomedical Laboratory Technology at Makerere University, and I am currently pursuing a post graduate Diploma in Project Planning and Management at Uganda Management Institute. Aside from my day to day lab activities, I organise biweekly CME presentations as well as team building activities. I hope to pursue further studies in the USA, such as Masters and PhD.

Yoweri Taremwa

Graduate Trainee, Immunology & Parasitology

tyoweri@gmail.com

B.Sc. Biochemistry & Chemistry, Makerere University
Research Area: Antibody dependent Natural Killer cell Immunity in malaria

Yoweri Taremwa is a graduate trainee under Dr. Stephen Tukwasibwe, a Post-doctoral fellow at Infectious Diseases Research Collaboration. He obtained a B.S in Biochemistry and Chemistry from Makerere University in 2021 and shortly worked as a teaching assistant in the department of Biochemistry at Kampala International University in Western Uganda before joining Dr. Stephen. He is currently involved in the study of the role of antimalarial antibodies in the functional modulation of Natural Killer cells in response to malaria. Yoweri is passionate about scientific research and hopes to pursue further studies in bioinformatics and systems biology.

Besides running experiments, he loves watching documentaries and chatting with fellow lab members.

Martin Chamai

mchamai@yahoo.com

Chamai is a graduate of Molecular Biology (Makerere University) with initial degree in Bio-Medical Laboratory Technology (Makerere University). He is an alumnus of the Swiss Tropical Public Health Institute for an intensive training in malaria conducted at Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania. He won a graduate research fellowship under the Cystic Echinococcosis sub-Saharan Africa Research Initiative at Makerere University in pathogen genomics. He was recently awarded another distance learning training fellowship in Bioinformatics by the Pan African Bioinformatics Network (University of Cape Town, South Africa). Chamai has over 10 years of experience in clinical laboratory and bio-medical research in infectious diseases. He is currently specialized in malaria. He is passionate about research in malaria-specific immunity and genomics. His hobbies include: playing football, gymnasium and rock climbing. He is a devout Christian, though non-denominational.