Immunology

Immunology

Welcome to The MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences graduate program in Immunology. The Immunology Graduate Program is designed to provide high-quality, comprehensive education and research training in the exciting field of immunology, allowing graduates to successfully pursue careers as independent investigators in academia or industry.

Train with Us

Principles of immunology have been applied to create numerous preventative and curative therapeutics for many types of human disease. The GSBS Program in Immunology is an inter-institutional activity with faculty and laboratories located in the UTHealth McGovern Medical School and School of Dentistry, and the MD Anderson Cancer Center, all committed to excellence in graduate student education and research.

We currently have 74 faculty members from both MD Anderson and The University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston representing 26 departments. Collectively, research conducted by our faculty reflects the complexity and diversity of the immune system. Main areas of faculty research include cancer immunology, infectious diseases, and inflammation with special interests in innate responses, adaptive responses, immune regulation, development of prophylactic vaccines, and development of vaccines or immunotherapy for a form of cancer, allergy or autoimmunity. Faculty members are committed to fostering a highly interactive and supportive environment that enables students to complete our rigorous curriculum and receive advanced training in basic and translational immunology research.

Antibodies attacking a virus Immunology Header

News

TL1 trainees attend ACTS Translational Science 2024

Six trainees with the Predoctoral & Postdoctoral Training in Clinical & Translational Sciences at UTHealth Houston and MD Anderson Cancer Center (TL1) participated in the Association of Clinical...

May 1, 2024

Dr. Louise McCullough and PhD student Anik Banerjee

Banerjee, McCullough received 2023 Kopchick Research Award

Houston Graduate School Immunology PhD student Anik Banerjee and his advisor, Louise McCullough, MD, PhD, were awarded the 2023 Dr. John J. Kopchick Research Award, which provides pilot funding for innovative...

December 20, 2023

Faculty member An named first vice president of drug discovery at UTHealth Houston

Zhiqiang An, PhD, has been named UTHealth Houston’s first vice president of drug discovery. In this new role, An will work in close collaboration with researchers across campus, as well as the...

November 13, 2023

Andrea Hernandez earns NIDCR supplement, forges her own way forward

Andrea Hernandez—a PhD student in the Immunology program—joined the lab of Simon Young, DDS, MD, PhD, because her interest in translational work led her to a passion in improving cancer immunotherapy...

May 10, 2023

Wargo, MD, receives TAMEST O’Donnell Award for pioneering microbiome research

Jennifer Wargo, MD, Graduate School faculty member and professor of Surgical Oncology and Genomic Medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, has received...

January 19, 2023

Research Award Recipients

Congratulations to these Immunology Program students for their accomplishments during the 2024 Immunology Program Retreat:

Post-Candidacy Poster Winners

Ben Whitfield
Advisor: Dr. Jason Huse
“Exploring the immunologic implications of ATRX deficiency in glioma”

Josue Pineda
Advisor: Dr. Matthew Gubin and Dr. Stephanie Watowich
“Elucidating the Role of MHC class I and MHC class II Tumor Antigen Presentation by CD103+ Dendritic Cell Vaccines”

Pre-Candidacy Poster Winners

Maria Grimaldo
Advisor: Dr. Seyed Moghaddam
“Dissecting the Relationship between Mucin 5AC and the Lung/Gut Microbiome in the Pathogenesis of K-ras Mutant Lung Cancer”

Emily Bontekoe
Advisor: Dr. Alexandre Reuben and Dr. John Heymach
"T cell receptor engineering targeting EGFR-mutant drug-tolerant persister cells in NSCLC”

Oral Presentation Winners

Samer Mathkour
Advisor: Dr.
"Comprehensive discovery of tumor antigens in Acute Myeloid Leukemia”

Ruparoshni Jayabalan
Advisor: Dr. Mauro Di Pilato
"The Role of CD83 In Modulating Tumor Immune Responses”

Sumedha Pareek
Advisor: Dr. Keri Schadler
"Aerobic exercise reduces immunosuppression in the pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma microenvironment.”

Shao-Ping Yang
Advisor: Dr. Dihua Yu

"Sequential Triple Combinatorial Therapy of Selective Histone Deacetylase Inhibitor, Low-Dose Radiation and Anti-PD1 Impedes Brain Metastasis Outgrowth"
2024-2025 Scholarship Award Recipients
2024 Research Excellence Award Recipients
2024-2025 Fellowship Recipients
Congratulations to these Immunology Program students on receiving fellowship grants for the 2024-2025 Academic Year:
- Andres Lopez-Rivas (Advisor: Candelaria Gomez-Manzano)- Recipient of the American Legion Auxiliary Fellowship in Cancer Research
- Hao-Nien Chen (Advisor: Dihua Yu)- Rosalie B. Hite Fellowship

Student Activities

Program Retreat
Seminar Series

The CCIR-Immunology Trainee Seminar Series is a weekly seminar attended by faculty, students, postdocs, and other researchers. It offers an opportunity for GSBS students, postdocs, and other early-career researchers to present their research findings, receive feedback, and foster collaborations and interactions. Trainees at all stages are encouraged to present their work, even if their project is early in development and their findings are preliminary. Each seminar features two speakers, with each speaker allotted ~20 minutes for their presentation, followed by ~10 minutes for questions and discussion per speaker. The series is organized by a student committee and two faculty advisors, Dr. Gheath Al-Atrash and Dr. Matt Gubin.

The series is sponsored by the GSBS Immunology Program, the Department of Stem Cell Transplantation & Cellular Therapy, and the Department of Immunology, which provide support, as well as funds to provide lunch to attendees.

Student Committees

Immunology Research Retreat Committee
An annual retreat is organized by Program students who develop retreat sessions and invite a nationally renowned scientist to present at the plenary talk. All the students in the Program present their research either in a poster or oral presentation to Program faculty.

2025 Committee Members:
Dr. Laura Bover, Faculty Advisor
Media Committee

Primary oversight of media related to the Immunology Program is provided by the Media Committee. Chief activities include maintaining the content on the Program website, as well as publicizing relevant information via social media platforms to help attract high-quality students and faculty to the Immunology community.

2025 Committee Members:

o
Dr. Cassian Yee, Faculty Advisor
CCIR Seminar Committee

Students are encouraged to attend cancer immunology-related seminars offered by the Center for Cancer Immunology Research (CCIR) and the Center for Inflammation and Cancer (CIC); both Centers are based at MD Anderson and specializing in translational immunology research. The seminars are wonderful opportunities for students to learn about research led by accomplished scientists. The CCIR also holds seminars in which students, postdoctoral fellows and PhD-level research staff give talks about their projects, and in return they receive feedback regarding presentation style, experimental design and interpretation of results from faculty.

2025 Committee Members:

o
Dr. Matthew Gubin, Faculty Advisor
Dr. Gheath Al-Atrash, Faculty Advisor
Student Recruitment Committee

Contact Us

	Director Suhendan Ekmekcioglu PhD The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology 713.563.0605 sekmekcioglu@mdanderson.org MDA Y8.5357 (Unit 362)
	Co-Director Alexandre Reuben PhD The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Thoracic/Head & Neck Medical Oncology 713-745-3014 areuben@mdanderson.org MDA T8.3904 (Unit 432)
	Ariel Scott Program Coordinator 713-745-0662 Ariel.B.Scott@uth.tmc.edu BSRB S3.8328