JACKSON LAB
LAB MEMBERS
Principal investigator
Ruaidhrí Jackson, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor of Immunology
Ruaidhrí Jackson is an assistant professor in the Department of Immunology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Jackson received a Ph.D. in Immunology at the National University of Ireland Maynooth under the mentorship of Dr. Paul Moynagh studying the role of E3 ubiquitin ligases in Toll-lkke He then conducted his Post Doctoral Fellowship in Dr. Richard Flavell's Lab at Yale University investigating non-canonical translation events, mechanosensation and, enteric neuroinflammation in the context of mucosal immunity. Dr. Jackson is currently a Paul Allen Distinguished Investigator and NIH New Innovator Award recipient.
Post Docs
Harry Kane, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow
Harry completed his Ph.D. in immunology at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, under the supervision of Dr. Lydia Lynch. During his Ph.D., Harry moved to Boston, where he studied at Brigham and Women's Hospital as a J1 research scholar. Harry's PhD research focused on iNKT cell biology and scRNA-Seq analysis. His postdoctoral project in Dr. Ruaidhri Jackson's lab focuses on bioinformatic analysis of non-canonical transcriptional regulation in innate immunity. Outside of the lab Harry enjoys kayak polo, video games, and spending time with his wife Genna.
Dr. Yisi Lu, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow
Yisi received her PhD from Yale Immunobiology under the mentorship of Dr. Joe Craft. Currently, she is interested in neuroimmune interaction in the gut. Outside of the lab, she enjoys reading, nature, bird watching and has a sweet tooth.
Dr. Coco Duizer, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow
Coco completed his Ph.D. research under the mentorship of Dr. Marcel de Zoete and Prof. Rob Willems at UMC Utrecht, Netherlands. His work centered on the role of microbiota-derived metabolites in the development of colorectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease, with a particular focus on Fusobacterium nucleatum and its metabolite, ADP-heptose. Currently, Coco's research explores the pulmonary nervous system, aiming to elucidate its role in the neuro-immune axis within the lung and trachea. Additionally, he works on the involvement of the enteric nervous system in mediating systemic immunity during infection. In his free time, Coco enjoys playing soccer and running and unwinding with friends over board games.
Grad Students
Undergrads
Quentin Richardson, B.Sc.
Ph.D. student
quentinrichardson@g.harvard.edu
Quentin graduated from Georgia State University, where he worked with Dr. Richard Dix on the immunopathogenesis of AIDS-related cytomegalovirus retinitis. He then joined Dr. Darren Higgins's lab in the Microbiology Department at Harvard Medical School. As a research assistant in the Higgins lab, he studied the pathogenesis of Listeria monocytogenes. As a BBS graduate student in Dr. Ruaidhri Jackson's lab, he is broadly interested in the crosstalk between enteric neurons and other cell types of the gastrointestinal tract and determining how this crosstalk modulates mucosal immunity.
Lillian Rose, B.Sc., NSF Fellow
Ph.D. student
Lillian is a graduate student in Harvard's Program in Neuroscience. She earned her B.S. in Neuroscience and Physiology in 2020 from the University of California San Diego where she studied degradative pathways involved in synaptic plasticity by analyzing lysosomal distribution and trafficking in pyramidal neurons and astrocytes in Dr. Gentry Patrick's Lab. In the Jackson Lab she is interested in the mechanosensation of enteric neurons involved in regulating peristalsis. Outside of lab Lillian enjoying crocheting, binge watching TV and walking her dog Skipper.
Olivia Venezia, B.Sc.
Ph.D. student
Olivia earned her B.Sc. in Microbiology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst before working as a research technician at Massachusetts General Hospital studying CD4+ T cell tolerance through the production of MHC-II tetramers. She is now a student in the Immunology Ph.D. program at Harvard University. Olivia is broadly interested in mucosal immunology and the discovery of non-canonical open reading frames that may be important for modulating inflammation.
Ademi Zhakyp, B.Sc.
Ph.D. student
Ademi is a Ph.D. student in Immunology at Harvard Medical School. She studies how immune and nervous systems interact in the gut. Ademi is originally from Shymkent, South Kazakhstan, a place with beautiful nature and rich historical heritage. Growing up she was exposed to a huge ethnic and cultural diversity which makes Central Asia so special. She loves snowboarding, ice-skating, biking, and playing guitar in her free time.
Sandhya Kumar
Lab Managment
Harvard University Student
sandhyakumar@college.harvard.edu
Sandhya is an undergraduate at Harvard College studying molecular and cellular biology and statistics. In the lab, she is interested in understanding the role of enteric neurons in priming immunity, and more broadly, interactions between the immune and nervous systems throughout the body. In her free time, she loves to work on craft projects, play cards (unfortunately, she has a terrible poker face), and go on hikes, courtesy of her Florida upbringing.
Maryam Arab, MD
Lab Managing Director
Maryam completed her MD in Iran and, after 5 years of working as a clinician in the emergency department and manager in the hospital,l moved to the US. Before joining Dr. Ruaidhri Jackson's Lab, she worked as a lead research technologist in Dr. Clifford Woolf’s lab in the neurobiology department of Boston Children's Hospital. Her focus there was working on an analgesic drug development as a part of the in vivo team. Maryam is skilled in surgeries in model organisms, and she is interested in neuroimmune interactions in IBD. Outside of the lab, Maryam is a big fan of travel and history. UNESCO world heritage sites and nature are both in her travel lists.
Alumni
Dr. Pathricia Tilstam, Ph.D. / Postdoctoral researcher
Dr. Rahmeh Othman, Ph.D. / Postdoctoral researcher
María Guadalupe García-Patiño, M.Sc. / Ph.D. student intern
Camren Branch / Undergraduate research student
Owen Searle / Undergraduate research student
Abigail Harrison, B.Sc. / Research assistant
Keren Vigeland, B.Sc. / Research assistant and lab manager
