I have more than 20 years of laboratory experience within the HMS community (1993-2004 with Dr. Michael Carroll; 2004-2011 with Dr. Klaus Rajewsky). In 2012, I started working with Dr. Anderson. My research skills and interests include genotyping mice with PCR and flow cytometry, Southern blot screening of recombinant embryonic stem cells, and isolating immune cells from tumor tissue. My personal interests include cooking with my husband and daughter, catching up with family over social media, and traveling.

I was born in the unique city of Naples, where several ancient cultures melted together throughout the centuries. The first real experience that sparked my passion in scientific research was in Prof. Antonio Giordano’s lab at Temple University. During my BSc and MSc at the University of Naples Federico II, I joined Prof. Gerolama Condorelli’s lab where I studied the molecular pathways driving neoplastic transformation and resistance to conventional cancer therapies.

I then joined the cancer biology PhD program in Zürich and worked in the lab of Prof Michael Weller. My research activity focused on exploring therapeutic approaches aimed at targeting the tumor vascular network and fostering the immune-mediated recognition and destruction of tumor cells in primary brain tumors.

In time, I have grown to love the immune system and its pervasive role in human health and disease. I am bewitched by the complexity of the immune system and its ability to modulate homeostatic processes, interact with environmental cues and human microbiota, and play a key function in cancer and autoimmunity.

Joining the Anderson Lab as a postdoc gives me a unique opportunity to dissect the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the immune system’s involvement in pathophysiology and gain crucial insights which can help us identifying new effective therapeutic approaches.

In my free time, I deeply love playing basketball and experiencing the majestic and untouched beauty of the mountains.

My home town is Milan, the European capital of fashion and design, where I obtained my degree in Medical Cellular and Molecular Biotechnology from Vita-Salute San Raffaele University. Over the years, I have become fascinated by the study of the tumor microenvironment and the development of approaches to unleash the power of the immune system against tumors. During my doctoral training in Prof. Luigi Naldini’s lab at the San Raffaele-Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy, I developed new strategies to target immuno-stimulating genes into tumors by exploiting genetically engineered tumor-infiltrating monocytes as smart cellular vehicles for delivering therapeutic drugs.

In time, I became intrigued by the potential of our immune system to attack and eliminate tumors similarly as it does for invading pathogens and became interested in studying the biology underneath the dynamic equilibrium between tumors, non-neoplastic cells, and the immune system.

Joining the laboratory of Ana Anderson gives me the possibility to study the mechanisms by which co-inhibitory receptors induce dysfunctional states in CD8 T cells and shape the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment by employing cutting-edge technologies such as Niche-seq, tumor imaging, single-cell transcriptomics and ad hoc transgenic mouse models. I believe these studies will contribute to define novel therapeutic approaches to improve current immunotherapies and to develop novel strategies to enhance the anti-tumor capacity of effector T cells.

I was born and raised in Upstate New York, where I acquired my love for maple syrup and quaint Adirondack towns. I attended Boston University from 2010 to 2014, where I completed an honors senior thesis with Dr. Trevor Siggers on the DNA binding specificities of the Glucocorticoid Receptor.  After graduating, I worked as a research technician in the lab of Dr. Steven McCarroll in the Harvard Medical School Genetics Department.  There, I worked on untangling the human genetics of Complement Component C4 and how its genetic polymorphism within the population can lead to an increased risk of developing schizophrenia.  While my love for genetics will never die, this project opened my eyes to the far-reaching influences of the immune system.  In this case, immunological molecules are contributing to synaptic pruning in the brain, and this sparked my passion to study immunology.  I joined the Harvard Immunology PhD program in September of 2016, and joined the Anderson lab in December 2017.  I am excited to further elucidate the mechanisms behind immune suppression in the tumor microenvironment, and contribute to the fast-paced and exciting research within the cancer immunology field.

I was born and raised in Changsha city, located in southern China. I got my B.S degree in Life Science at Wuhan University in China, where I was first exposed to bioresearch in the areas of Molecular Biology, Microbiology and Structural Biology. After graduating with a B.S degree in 2013, I joined in Tsinghua University in China, as a Ph.D student, where I worked on the function of Bcl10 in innate and adaptive immune response. I got my Ph.D degree in 2019 under the supervision of Dr. Xin Lin at the Institute for Immunology. During my Ph.D training, I become very interested in the immune system and it’s implications in human diseases. I recently joined the laboratory of Dr. Ana C Anderson as a postdoctoral fellow. Here I am working on very interesting projects focusing on understanding the mechanisms of steroid hormone regulation of immune responses in autoimmunity and cancer.  

I was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. I got my BS degree in Nutrition and Health Science at Taipei Medical University and obtained a Dietitian certificate. I found myself more interested in scientific research, so I came to Boston and joined the Biochemical and Molecular Nutrition program at Tufts for an MS degree. There, I worked with Dr. Jiantou Ma on analyzing the effect of diet quality on mitochondrial DNA. I joined the Anderson lab in September 2021 as a Research Technician. It was kind of different from what I used to do, but cancer studies, genetics, and immunology have always been my interest. I’m excited to work and learn more in the lab.

I grew up in Scituate, a small town on the south shore of Massachusetts. I graduated from Brown University in 2013 with a B.S. in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering. I then went on to receive my M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Brown in 2014. During my Master’s degree, I became more interested in studying cancer immunotherapy and I decided to pursue my PhD in bioengineering. I did my doctoral studies in the lab of Dr. Chris Jewell where my research focused on using bioengineering strategies to understand the trafficking and function of immune signals in the context of vaccination and immunotherapy. These studies revealed self-assembled immune signals exhibit distinct processing features - including accelerated internalization and activation - translating to unique immune outcomes in primary cells and pre-clinical animal models. My doctoral work was supported by an NIH F31 NRSA Fellowship and a spot on the NIH T32 Host Pathogen Interactions grant. Through my doctoral strategies I have grown to appreciate the complexity of the immune system and the interaction between different immune cells and malignant cells. Joining the Anderson lab as a postdoc gives me the opportunity to study the role of the immune system in glioblastoma. I believe these studies will help define novel therapeutic approaches for glioblastoma to enhance cancer immunotherapy.

I'm from Seoul, the most vibrant and beautiful city in East Asia. I graduated from Seoul National University, the most prestigious university in South Korea, with a B.S. in Animal Biotechnology. I then entered the M.S./Ph.D. integrated program at Seoul National University and chose Immunology as my major.

My Ph.D. was conducted as joint research between Seoul National University and the Institute of Basic Sciences Prof. Cheol-heui Yun and Prof. Jae-ho Cho, and under the guidance of the two supervisors, I suggested a new strategy to distinguish subpopulation of naïve CD8+ T cells and proved strength of self-TCR and homeostatic type I IFN signals as the factors which can affect to their fate decision and role of them in their viral infection model. Through these studies, I could be realized that naïve T cells shows contradictory responses and differentiation preferences to a wide variety of diseases, which is due to changes of the unique immunological environmental factors created by each disease. In particular, the effect of the tumor microenvironment on CD8⁺ T cells was quite dominant, and I wanted to study this field in depth during my postdoctoral research.

Joining Prof. Ana Anderson's lab is an opportunity that best aligns with my thoughts. Extending the roots of my research, I am excited that collaborating with outstanding research teams and applying pioneered technologies to get an opportunity to understand how T cells are changed in the tumor microenvironment, as well as how their functions can change with the aging of the host.

And I have no doubt that it will be one another wonderful experience of my life to live in Boston, the most academic city in the world.