Vaccinology Track Students

S. Gabrielle Cody grew up in a far suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, and was first exposed to infectious disease research on a field trip to the CDC in eighth grade.  She graduated with her bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in May of 2020 and promptly moved 4,500 miles to Honolulu during the pandemic for her master's degree.  At the University of Hawaii, she worked initially on flavivirus diagnostics and then transitioned to systematically reviewing the female-specific pathologies of the Schistosoma haematobium parasite. Gabrielle joined the HPTM program in 2022 and is looking forward to establishing herself in a lab.  She is interested in vaccinology and high-containment research.  Outside of school, Gabrielle knits extensively and enjoys her time with her husband and their two cats.

Awards/Scholarships:

2022- David and Janet Niesel Presidential Scholarship Award, UTMB

Eldridge Hager is a Costa-Rican American from southwest Virginia and received his B.S. in Microbiology from Virginia Tech in the Spring of 2021. There, he worked under the mentorship of Dr. Amy Pruden characterizing antibiotic-resistance genes as contaminants of wastewater using IonTorrent and Illumina next-generation sequencing. During his undergraduate education, he volunteered with the local Wildlife Disease Association chapter in education and outreach as well as several collaborations at Virginia Tech. He joined UTMB's Experimental Pathology graduate program in the Fall of 2019. Eldridge is mentored by Dr. Shannan Rossi and Dr. Alexander Freiberg and researches long-term Ebola virus infection of the male genital tract.

Graduate Program: Microbiology and Immunology 
Mentor: Dr. Lynn Soong

Justine obtained her Bachelor in Nanotechnology and Molecular Engineering in the end of 2019 at the Universidad de las Américas Puebla (Mexico). During her undergraduate studies she did an internship at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she joined the Functional Nanomaterials Lab under the guidance of Dr. Kelly Nash.  There she worked in the synthesis of selenium nanoparticles (Se NPs) for cancer applications 

In 2020 she was awarded with a scholarship from the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT) of the Mexican Government, with which she was able to fulfill her of studying abroad and join the PHTO graduate program at UTMB. She is part of the Castellanos Lab, in which she learned about the application of small interfering RNA (siRNA) as a proposed treatment against Cryptosporidiois. Along her mentor, she is currently working in her dissertation proposal with entails the use of a nutraceutical as an alternative treatment for Cryptosporidiois.  

Besides being interested in research regarding infectious diseases, she’s also passionate about neuropsychiatric disorders. In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking and doing yoga.  

Awards/Scholarships: 
2020-2025 ConTex Scholarship (Joint scholarship from CONACyt and the University of Texas System).

Graduate Program: Microbiology and Immunology
Mentor: Dr. Keer Sun

Sunil graduated from M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology, India, in 2014 with a Bachelor of Engineering in Biotechnology. Following graduation, he moved to the US. He pursued a Master of Science in Medical Biotechnology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. For his MS thesis, he studied the role of the GRβ/AKT axis in B-1 cells in response to dexamethasone. Shortly after graduation, he moved to Boston and briefly worked for a biotech company before moving to Takeda Vaccines Inc. At Takeda, he worked on the Dengue vaccine candidate, TAK003. He performed an RVP-based serotype-specific neutralization assay for sera samples from the Phase II clinical trial to determine the TAK003’s serum potency, antibody titer, and efficacy. Sunil started his Ph.D. in 2019 under the guidance of Dr. Keer Sun. For his Ph.D. thesis, he is studying the role of Alveolar macrophages in pulmonary infections. He is passionate about Immunology, Virology, and Global public health. Biweekly, he teaches English and soft skills to youths from lower-income families for a non-profit organization, FEA, based in India. Outside lab, he enjoys cooking, dancing, and spending time with family and friends.

Awards/Scholarships: 
2021- McLaughlin Colloquium Travel Award

Graduate Program: Human Pathophysiology and Translational Medicine
Mentor: Dr. Janice Endsley

Megan graduated from Texas A & M University in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in microbiology. After graduating she took a position as a research assistant in the Tuberculosis Drug Discovery Program at the Infectious Disease Research Institute in Seattle, Washington where she worked to identify new drug targets and lead drug candidates to treat Mycobacterium tuberculosis. She continued her work in drug development at Kineta, Inc. in Seattle, investigating new antivirals against Dengue Fever Virus and Zika Virus, and led pre-IND studies of a new drug candidate to treat Lassa Fever. Her research interests include vaccinology, immunology, and infectious disease. Her current mentors are Dr. Janice Endsley and Dr. Jai Rudra. Together they are researching vaccine development for the prevention of tuberculosis infection and the immunology of protection.