B.S., Boston University
Advisor: Craig Lefort

Research Interests: The Lefort Lab has recently reported development of conditionally immortalized murine neutrophil progenitor cell lines that have the novel ability to engraft in genetically related unconditioned hosts. We hypothesize that these neutrophil progenitors can be developed as an "off-the-shelf" cellular therapy to attenuate periods of neutropenia or neutrophil dysfunction. My work aims to define the mechanism of neutrophil progenitor engraftment in the naive host, to engineer our neutrophil progenitors to prevent graft rejection in unrelated hosts, and to develop conditionally immortalized human neutrophil progenitors. These studies have the potential to significantly impact human health by bringing neutrophil progenitors as a cellular therapy closer to clinical development.