Postdoctoral Fellow
Education:
Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
B.S., Louisiana State University
Languages Spoken: Arabic
Biography
Our clinical study focuses on non-HIV individuals that acquire an opportunistic infection of Cryptococcus. Over 30% of patients tested were positive for anti-GMCSF autoantibodies in blood plasma. One function of GM-CSF is the inhibition of autophagy in monocytes/macrophages, which we observed enhances their sensitivity to antigen, cytokine production, and intrinsic fungicidal activity.