Check here for the latest news about the lab!
2024
Lab Member Updates
- A BIG CONGRATULATIONS to our principal investigator, Dr. Esther Melamed, on receiving the University of Texas at Austin’s Research & Creative Grant! This research aims to identify biomarkers that could improve diagnosis and treatment of Long COVID neuropathy!
- A BIG welcome to our lab manager, Elizabeth Williams, and our new undergraduate students, Arissa Rahman, Esha Idnani, Emaan Chhatriwala, Kethana Uppalapati, and Sean Pettit!
- CONGRATULATIONS to INS Student, Max Weed, on passing his qualifying exam with flying colors!
- CONGRATULATIONS to our research assistant, Matt Petershack, on his acceptance to the University of Michigan’s PhD Program in Biomedical Sciences! We wish you all the best, and we cannot wait to hear about all the great achievements you will accomplish!
- CONGRATULATIONS to Cara for graduating with honors from the University of Texas at Austin! Wishing you all the best in what lies ahead, and we are so proud of your big achievement!
- CONGRATULATIONS to Adriana on passing her qualifying exam with flying colors!
- A BIG congratulations to Sam Bazzi on successfully defending his PhD thesis and his acceptance to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School! We are so proud of you, Dr. Bazzi! Success was always obliged to come before you, and these are just some of the many goals that you are set to achieve.
- A heartfelt congratulations to our lab manager, Maisey Schuler, on her acceptance to the University of Michigan Medical School! We hope you can feel all the pride and happiness surrounding you as you head off to medical school. It has been an honor seeing everything you have accomplished, and we are looking forward to seeing even more great things from you!
Lab Member Presentation Updates
- Graduate student, Cole, presents at the INS Dialogues about the expanding roles of chronic viral infections in neuroimmune diseases.
- Graduate students, Adriana, Cole, and Kat, attend the 40th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis in Copenhagen, Denmark!
- Dr. Esther Melamed presents at Research Society on Alcohol about alcohol-induced alterations in gut microbiota and neuroinflammation!
- Graduate students, Adriana, Kat, and Matt, attend the 47th Annual Research Society on Alcohol Scientific Meeting!
- Cole presents at the ACTRIMS Young Scientist Summit in Clinical Neuroimmunology!
Award and Funding Updates
- Congratulations to Adriana on receiving the Alcohol and Immunology Research Interest Group (AIRIG) conference travel award!
- CONGRATULATIONS to graduate student, Adriana, for receiving the Bruce Jones Fellowship!
- Congratulations Adriana and Kat on receiving the RSA student merit award!
- Congratulations to Cole on receiving the University Graduate Continuing Fellowship!
Publication Updates
- Congratulations to graduate student Cole, lab alumni Chumeng, Cara, and Nathan, undergraduate students Akshara and Brinkley, Dr. Dennis Wylie, and Dr. Esther Melamed on their publication titled “Molecular mimicry as a mechanism of viral immune evasion and autoimmunity” in Nature Communications!
- Congratulations to Brinkley and Kat on their co-first author publication in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity about the role of intravenous immunoglobulin in the treatment of neuroimmune conditions, acute COVID-19 infection, and Long COVID. Check it out here!
- Congratulations to Cole on his co-first author manuscript about the multi-omic changes in COVID-19 severity and mortality was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Check it out here!
- Congratulations to Cole on his co-first author IMPACC manuscript publication, “Host-microbe multiomic profiling reveals age-dependent immune dysregulation associated with COVID-19 immunopathology”, in Science Translational Medicine!
2023
Lab Member Updates
- CONGRATULATIONS to Nathan for graduating from the University of Texas at Austin! We are so proud of you!
- A warm welcome to undergraduate student Simali Shah and INS student Max Weed to the lab!
- Welcome to graduate student Adriana, research associate Matt, and undergraduate students Nathan and Brinkley on joining the lab!
- Melamed Lab gets featured in the Texas Standard! Click here to learn more!
- A BIG congratulations to undergraduate student, Chumeng Wang, and post-doctoral fellow Dr. Blaine Caslin. Chumeng has graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and has been accepted to Dell Medical School. Dr. Blaine Caslin has finished his postdoc and a six year tenure in the lab. We wish you both all the best!
Lab Member Presentation Updates
- Kat and Cole present at the Institute for Neuroscience Early Years Symposium.
- Blaine Caslin presents at the Waggoner Center about T-cell immune profiling in mice bred for preferential drinking.
- Graduate student Sam Bazzi and Dr. Melamed present at the 10th Annual Waggoner Center Advance.
- Undergraduates Chumeng, Cara, Nathan, Akshara, and Haley present at the 2023 Undergraduate Research Forum.
- Graduate student, Sam, presents at the INS Dialogues about the role of alcohol in neurological autoimmunity in T-cells and oligodendrocytes.
Publication Updates
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Congratulations to Nadia and Maisey on their MedRx pre-print, “SARS-CoV-2 Humoral Immune Responses in Convalescent Individuals Over 12 Months Reveal Severity-Dependent Antibody Dynamics.”
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Congratulations to Sam and Cole on their BioRx pre-print, “Alcohol Induces Concentration-Dependent Transcriptomic Changes in Oligodendrocytes.”
- Congratulations to Cole, Netta, and Elie on their MedRx pre-print, “Dissecting Clinical Features of COVID-19 in a Cohort of 21,312 Acute Care Patients.”
- Congratulations to Cole on his BioRx pre-print “Integrated Longitudinal Multi-Omics Study Identifies Immune Programs Associated with COVID-19 Severity and Mortality in 1152 Hospitalized Participants.”
- Congratulations to Nadia on the acceptance of her paper to Scientific Reports, “Clinical Characteristics of Long COVID Patients Presenting to a Dedicated Academic Post-COVID-19 Clinic.”
- Congratulations to Chumeng and Akshara on co-first author publications in journals Virology and PM&R clinics!
- Congratulations to Cole on publication in Cell Reports Medicine!
Award and Funding Updates
- Congratulations to Adriana on receiving the travel award to the Alcohol & Immunology Research Interest Group (AIRIG conference meeting!)
- Congratulations to Matt on receiving 2nd place at the Neonatal-Perinatal Research Conference at Alamo City!
- Congratulations to Kat on getting the Bruce Jones Fellowship!
- Congratulations to undergraduate students, Cara Fonken and Haley Goodwin, on receiving the CNS Award for Excellence in Public Health, Nutrition and Textiles and Rising Researcher Award at the Undergraduate Research Forum!
- Congratulations to Sam on receiving the UT Austin Graduate School Fellowship!
- Congratulations to Nadia on getting awarded the Genentech GEM Fellowship!
2022
ECTRIMS Research Conference:
- Melamed Lab graduate students, Cole Maguire and Sam Bazzi, presented their research posters at the 2022 ECTRIMS Research Conference!
Melamed Lab Featured in the News:
- Congrats to Dr. Melamed, Cara, Jamie, and Sam on getting featured in the news! Please check out Sam’s art workshop interview here. To read about Cara and Jamie’s interview with The Daily Texan, click here.
Publication in Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience:
- Congratulations to Dr. Melamed, Jamie Palmer, and Cara Fonken for their publication in Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience! To check out the paper, click here.
Publication in Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders:
- Congratulations to Bazzi and Maguire et al. on their publication in Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders! To read the paper, click here.
KXAN Features the Melamed Lab:
- Congratulations to lab members, Sam Bazzi and Nadia Siles, on getting featured on KXAN! To check out the article, click here.
2022 Undergraduate Research Forum:
- Melamed Lab undergraduate students, Akshara, Cara, and Chumeng, presented their research posters at the 2022 Undergraduate Research Forum!
9th Annual Waggoner Center Advance:
- Graduate student Jamie Palmer presented her preliminary data on the effects of chronic dose alcohol consumption on EAE and the thymus at the 9th annual Waggoner Center Advance.
- Graduate student Sam Bazzi presented his project titled “Alcohol exposure reduces protein translation pathways in oligodendrocyte transcriptome” at the conference.
Dr. Melamed Presents at the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America:
- During her webinar, Dr. Esther Melamed dives into neuroimmunology, what happens to the body with MS, and the science behind MS therapeutics.
Blaine’s Defense Reception:
- A BIG congratulations to Dr. Blaine Caslin on successfully defending his dissertation and receiving his Ph.D!
TIDES Fellowship:
- Congratulations to Melamed Lab undergraduates, Cara Fonken and Chumeng Wang, on being awarded the TIDES Research Fellowship!
- Cara will use her fellowship to investigate the involvement of the gut microbiome in MS.
- Chumeng will use her fellowship to research the role of molecular mimicry as a mechanism of autoimmunity and complications involved in post-viral infections such as PASC.
2021
PhD Qualifying Exams:
- Congratulations to lab members, Cole Maguire and Jamie Palmer, on passing their qualifying exams!
Dissertation Writing Fellowship:
- Congratulations to Blaine on being awarded the University of Texas at Austin Graduate School Dissertation Writing Fellowship for Spring 2022!
Publication in Gut Microbes:
- Congratulations to Caslin et al. on their publication in Gut Microbes. Click here to view the paper!
2020
COVID-19 Scientific Updates:
- In collaboration with medical students from TTUHSC, Parker Davis, Sam Bazzi, and Cole Maguire from the Melamed lab present scientific updates on COVID-19 vaccines, neurological complications, and clinical trials.
UT Brainstorms:
- In this UT Brainstorms talk, Dr. Esther Melamed and Sam Bazzi explore the mechanisms that underlie brain’s susceptibility to COVID-19.
Dell Medical School Neurology Grand Rounds:
- Dr. Esther Melamed reviews the emerging data on neurological complications in COVID-19.