JACKSON LAB
LAB MEMBERS
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.
Keren Vigeland, B.Sc.
Research assistant
keren_vigeland@hms.harvard.edu
Keren earned her B.Sc. in Biology and Chemistry at Emmanuel College. Before joining Dr. Ruaidhri Jackson's Lab, she did clinical research in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative, and Pain Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital. Keren is interested in learning more about the complex interactions within mucosal immunity as well as the interplay between neuro infections, the immune system, and neurological disorders. Outside of the lab, Keren enjoys playing board games with friends, going to the beach, and karaoke.
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.
Investigators
Rahmeh (Ro) Othman, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow
Ro completed her Ph.D. in physiology at the University of Montreal and then joined the Jackson lab. Ro is currently working on the neuro-immune crosstalk in the gastrointestinal tract. Outside of the lab, Ro enjoys biking, planting, as well as spending time with her friends.
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.
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.
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.
Alumni
Dr. Pathricia Tilstam, Ph.D. / Postdoctoral researcher
María Guadalupe García-Patiño, M.Sc. / Ph.D. student intern
Camren Branch / Undergraduate research student
Owen Searle / Undergraduate research student
Joseph Rone, B.Sc. / Rotation Ph.D. student
Abigail Harrison, B.Sc. / Research assistant