The 2021 International Cytokine & Interferon Society-Luminex John R. Kettman Award for Excellence in Interferon & Cytokine Research recognized Marion Pepper, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Immunology, as being in the very top tier of the current wave of mid-career immunologists who continue to make cytokine research exciting.
Since establishing her own laboratory in the Department of Immunology, Pepper has addressed how early cytokine production influenced CD4+ T cell memory formation and showed that IL-2 signaling is required for both Th1 and Th2 tissue resident memory (Trm) formation in the lung. Her lab has also focused on determining how malaria-associated inflammation influences CD4+ T cell and B cell memory formation and has developed novel tetramers to study human and mouse cells to the same malaria antigen.
Her work on both T and B cell responses provided an important foundation that allowed her to pivot to study the development of long-lasting, functional antigen-specific T and B cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 in patients with mild infections.
Pepper’s research aims to understand how cytokines impact the generation and maintenance of T (and B) cell responses in diverse biological settings.
Pepper will give a talk at Cytokines 2021 Hybrid Meeting in the opening session called “It’s all about the cytokines” on Sunday, Oct. 17, 2021, in Cardiff and on the virtual meeting platform.
Learn more about Pepper and the award on the ICIS website.
