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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

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
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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
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Photo of Zhiqiang An, PhD, in his lab.

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
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Andrea Hernandez earns NIDCR supplement, forges her own way forward

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
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PhD student Ye Ethan Li discusses first-authoring papers as a non-native English speaker; emphasizes a focus on one’s audience

PhD student Ye Ethan Li discusses first-authoring papers as a non-native English speaker; emphasizes a focus on one’s audience

Ye Ethan Li is a PhD student in the Immunology program at the Graduate School, and joined the lab of Katy Rezvani, MD, PhD, to research novel treatment with cell-based immunotherapy in locating and removing...
January 30, 2023
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Student Achievements

  • 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

    Congratulations to these Immunology Program students for their accomplishments during the 2024-2025 Academic Year:

  • 2024 Research Excellence Award Recipients

    Ben Whitfield 

    Advisor: Dr. Jason Huse

    Spencer Lea 

    Advisor: Dr. Michael Curran 

  • 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

  • Immunology Club

    Each month the GSBS Immunology Program students hold an Immunology Club meeting to host workshops and faculty-led chalk-talks on varying subjects within or related to immunology, experimental methods, graduate school, and career advancement. Previous events include a patient advocacy group who described their patient-clinical perspective, an introduction to CyTOF workshop by MD Anderson’s co-director of the north campus flow cytometry core facility, and multi-perspective faculty chalk talks about their areas of immunology-related research. A number of social events for students are also held at this time. First year students are welcome to attend. For more information regarding Immunology Club, please contact Michael Clowers, Heather Sonnemann, or Michelle Winkler.

  • Program Retreat

    Each year the Immunology Program sponsors a student-organized research retreat, which includes student talks, poster sessions, and a keynote speaker. The retreat is considered to be valuable time away from the laboratory allowing students and faculty to become better acquainted with each other.

  • Seminar Series

    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.  To be added to the mailing lists for future seminars contact Amberly Alexander and specify one or all of the seminar series.

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

    The Student Recruitment Committee organizes all Program recruitment activities in an effort to attract first year GSBS students to the Program.

    2025 Committee Members:

    o 
    o Emily Bontekoe
    o
    o Sarah Schneider

    o Dr. Suhendan Ekmekcioglu, Faculty Advisor
    o Dr. Alexandre Reuben, Faculty Advisor

Contact Us

Ekmekcioglu-Suhendan.jpg Director
Suhendan Ekmekcioglu PhD
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology
713.563.0605
[email protected]
MDA Y8.5357 (Unit 362)
Reuben-Alexandre.jpg Co-Director
Alexandre Reuben PhD
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Thoracic/Head & Neck Medical Oncology
713-745-3014
[email protected]
MDA T8.3904 (Unit 432)
Scott_Ariel.jpg

Ariel Scott 
Program Coordinator
713-745-0662
[email protected]
BSRB S3.8328 
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