Education

PhD, Immunology, University of Iowa
BS, Biomedical Sciences, Minnesota State University – Mankato
BA, German, Minnesota State University – Mankato

I grew up in the Minneapolis suburb of Lino Lakes, Minnesota.  I always thought that I would end up working in the medical field as a doctor or nurse, but when I joined a research lab during my undergraduate studies, I found that I really enjoyed it.  Thus, I decided to pursue a graduate research degree and joined the PhD program in Immunology at the University of Iowa.  I performed my thesis work in the Mangalam lab where I studied the effects of a high fructose diet on the gut microbiome, the immune system, and disease outcomes in a mouse model of Multiple Sclerosis. Additionally, I investigated estrogen receptor signaling in CD8+ T-cells as a potential mechanism of protection mediated by isoflavones, a class of plant-based estrogenic compounds, in a mouse model of Multiple Sclerosis.