Three graduate students affiliated with labs in the Department of Pathology and Immunology have been named Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Medical Science Fellows. Lucas Adams, an MD/PhD student in the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences (DBBS) Immunology program who is completing his thesis work in the labs of Dr. Daved Fremont and Dr. Michael Diamond; Zachary Beller, an MD/PhD student in the DBBS Computational & Systems Biology program who has completed his thesis work in the lab of Dr. Jeffrey Gordon; and Yu Xia, an MD/PhD student in the DBBS Immunology program who has completed her thesis work in the lab of Dr. Takeshi Egawa, all received Olin Awards for superior accomplishments in research at Washington University School of Medicine.
Olin Fellowships are presented to PhD and MD/PhD students conducting research in the biomedical sciences in any Washington University graduate program who have made significant contributions and demonstrated the potential to become outstanding research scientists. Olin Fellows are recognized at a dinner held in their honor and receive a $1,000 award, courtesy of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). Lucas Adams, Zachary Beller, and Yu Xia are among 22 students named fellows this year.
Lucas Adams’ work in the Fremont and Diamond Labs focuses on using structural and biophysical techniques to characterize host-virus interactions, including receptor engagement and antibody binding/evasion, with a current focus on SARS-CoV-2.
“I am honored to receive this award. I see it as a testament to the incredible support and collaborations I’ve enjoyed as a graduate student, as well as the opportunities Daved and Mike have given me to explore in the lab,” Lucas said.
“Lucas has been a simply outstanding student, stepping up to the challenges of studying alphavirus virus-receptor interaction at high resolution. His work is significant, impactful, and has led us to address new questions in the field of virus host interactions. Moreover, he has an extraordinarily generous spirit and has trained and taught other students and trainees in the Fremont and Diamond laboratory how to think about and study these key host-pathogen interactions from both structural and biophysical perspectives,” Dr. Diamond said.
Zach Beller’s work in the Gordon Lab centers on developing fiber-based prebiotics to affect targeted changes in microbiota state. In particular, Zach uses CRISPR-based knockdown of targeted gut bacteria in a model human gut microbiota to characterize the mechanisms and kinetics of gut bacterial interactions to further our understanding of gut ecology and our ability to enact long-term change on gut communities.
Yu Xia’s work in the Egawa Lab focuses on understanding how productive CD8 and CD4 T cell response is sustained at the cellular levels and molecular levels using a chronic viral model. For CD8 T cells, Yu and team discovered a CX3CR1+ CD8 population that contains a TIM3+ subpopulation that is highly proliferative and carry effector functions, and a TIM3– subpopulation that serves as an intermediate progenitor that gives rise to TIM3+ subpopulation. For CD4 T cells, Yu identified a Bcl6-dependent progenitor CD4 population that gives rise to both BCL6–BLIMP1+ effector cells and CXCR5+ TFH cells, a finding that could impact treatment for chronic viral infections and tumors.
“Yu Xia is a very talented and self-motivated future physician scientist who has demonstrated high scientific rigor over the four years she was a student in the lab. She is a highly determined researcher and frequently fostered collaborations with researchers from other institutions, deserving this prestigious award,” Dr. Egawa said.
“This award is an important recognition of our work on how long-term T cell response is achieved when antigen persists, which is seen in chronic infections, cancer and autoimmune disease. This would not have been possible without the support of my PhD mentor Dr. Takeshi Egawa and my lab members, or the collegiality of the Department of Pathology and Immunology including the Immunology Graduate Program,” Yu said.