The Taylor Lab at the University of Virginia

Justin Taylor, PhD, (he/him)

Principal Investigator

Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases & International Health
Member, Beirne B. Carter Immunology Center
Department of Medicine
@JustinTaylorLab
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Dr. Justin Taylor is an immunologist who focuses his research on B cells, a type of white blood cell responsible for producing immune proteins called antibodies. Dr. Taylor received his BS from Rider University in 2002 and was introduced to immunological research during his time there. Dr. Taylor went on complete his PhD in Immunology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008 studying T cell responses to parasitic helminth infections. As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota beginning in 2009, Dr. Taylor built upon these experiences and developed research projects analyzing B cells. Dr. Taylor helped develop innovative strategies to find rare B cells specific for antigens of interest, work that led Dr. Taylor to start his own lab at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in 2014 with the goal of dissecting B cell responses in human infectious diseases and cancer. In parallel, Dr. Taylor’s lab has also developed a robust platform for engineering B cells to produce protective or therapeutic antibodies and is working to bring these approaches to the clinic to prevent or treat disease. Together, the Taylor lab has built a robust program for interrogating and modifying B cells with the goal of improving human health.

When not working he enjoys traveling, home repair & improvement, baseball, and spending quality time with friends & family.

Kara Cummings, PhD, (she/her)

Lab Manager for the Taylor and the Anderson Labs

Undergraduate Training Program Coordinator for the Taylor and Anderson Labs
Lab Safety Officer for the Taylor and Anderson Labs
08/2023-Present

Dr. Cummings received her PhD in Cellular Biology from the University of Georgia in the lab of Dr. Rick Tarleton. During her graduate work, she investigated the role of iNOS signaling during Trypanosoma cruzi infections. She completed her post-doctoral training under the mentorship of Dr. Young Hahn at the University of Virginia, where she studied CD4 T cell responses to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. She joins the Anderson and Justin Taylor labs from Dr. Vic Engelhard’s lab, where she was a Senior Lab Specialist. Her research in the Engelhard lab focused on the immunogenicity of cancer-expressed phosphorylated MHC Class I peptides. In the Anderson Lab, Kara aims to apply her cancer immunology training to investigate immune responses in solid tumors and develop novel immune-based cancer therapeutics. She also oversees the lab’s undergraduate research program.

In her free time, she enjoys reading suspense novels.

Gabriel Alencar, PhD, (he/him)

Sr. Bioinformatics/Computational Biologist for the Taylor and the Anderson Labs

Social Coordinator for the Taylor and Anderson Labs
08/2023-Present
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Dr. Alencar received his PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics from the University of Virginia under the mentorship of Dr. Gary Owens and Dr. Stefan Bekiranov. During his graduate work and for a couple of years thereafter, he used bioinformatic tools to interrogate the role of pluripotency genes in smooth muscle cells late-stage atherosclerosis. During his training, he mastered coding languages Python, JavaScript, HTML, Perl, and R, built pipelines for scRNA-seq, bulk RNA-seq and ChIP-seq analyses, and designed software for data visualization. He worked at Tandem Diabetes Care as a Senior Customer Experience Researcher role where he designed studies and performed data analysis, i.e. comparing diabetic patients (type 1 and type 2) glycemic control improvement, as well as several quality of life parameters, after being in a insulin pump for a year. He joins the Anderson and Justin Taylor labs bringing his biostatistician experience from the biotech world. In the Anderson Lab, Gabe aims to leverage his expertise in programming and statistical analysis of “big data” to interrogate how immune responses are modulated in tumors.

When he's not sciencing, Dr. Alencar is a proud parent to two awesome boys. And when he's got some free time on his hands, you'll find him geeking out over everything cool, grooving to music, and wandering around the region soaking in the great outdoors (and indoors).

Ashraf Yousif, PhD

Senior Research Scientist

06/2024 – Present
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Dr. Yousif is immunologist by training, he obtained his PhD from Kyoto University in Japan under the supervision of Prof. Tasuku Honjo a pioneer renowned immunologist and 2018 Nobel laureate of Medicine and Physiology. In his PhD, Dr. Yousif studied the molecular mechanism of Uracil-DNA glycosylase (UNG) in antibody diversification (class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation). After completing his PhD, Dr. Yousif joined Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard as PostDoc and later was promoted to scientist. His work at Ragon Institute centered on HIV-1, Influenza and SARS-CoV-2 vaccination which involved vaccine design and immunization strategy development to focus B cells toward specific epitopes of interest. Also he discovered Dendritic cells derived--IL-6 buffer activity that contribute to antibody response upon vaccination and control IL-6 level in the blood which has implications in inflammatory response. Dr. Yousif worked as principal scientist of immunology at Drug Farm biotech company where he established the company lab at Lowell, Massachusetts, led a team of junior scientists and participated in the company's first clinical trial (Trial ID: ACTRN12621000592842) of DF-006 agonist to treat chronic hepatitis B virus infection (cHBV). Dr. Yousif joined our lab as a senior research scientist in June 2024.

Outside the lab, he likes to spend more time with his beloved family and friends.

Kuntal Biswas, PhD, (he/him)

Senior Research Scientist

09/2024 – present
LinkedIn

Kuntal received his Ph.D. in Cardiovascular Physiology from the University of Kanazawa, Japan in 2013. His graduate works mainly focused on the role of class II PI3K C2a in the cardiovascular system both in vitro and in vivo. He started his postdoc in Dr. James Larner's lab in Radiation Oncology at the University of Virginia where he studied E3 ligase, Carboxyl terminus of Hsp70- Interacting Protein70 (CHIP) in prostate cancer. He joined Gynecology Oncology as a Senior Scientist in 2021 where he is exploring RNA Polymerase I inhibitor, CX-5461 in chemo-resistant ovarian cancer cells. In the Taylor Lab, Kuntal is focused on understanding and manipulating B cell responses to cancer.

Outside the lab, Kuntal loves gardening, cooking, visiting new places, and spending quality time with his family.

Monica Rodrigues, PhD, (she/her)

Postdoctoral Research Scientist

11/2023 - Present
LinkedIn

Dr. Rodrigues received her PhD in Science from Institute of Biomedical Sciences at University of Sao Paulo/Brazil with a focus in biology of the pathogen-host relationship. She is an expert in bacterial and viral recombinant proteins production (EHEC, ZIKV, DENV, CHIKV, YFV and SARS-CoV2) in prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems since 2011 and lipid nanoparticles as a delivery system of vaccine protein antigens administered or not with adjuvants combining nanotechnology and immunology for the development of vaccine formulations against Shiga toxin from E. coli and viruses such as Zika, Chikungunya and SARS-CoV-2. In the Taylor Lab, Monica is studying the repertoire of antigen-specific B cells targeted by a virus-like particle vaccine candidate before and after immunization.

In her free time, Dr. Rodrigues loves going out with friends, but also in the peace of her home, to make video calls with her family in Brazil, reading fiction novels, TV shows, sleeping, and discovering new good places in the city.

Sunil Palani, PhD, (he/him/his)

Postdoctoral Research Scientist

07/2024 – Present
LinkedIn

Dr. Sunil Palani is an immunologist and received his Ph.D. in Immunology and Microbiology from the University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston in the lab of Dr. Keer Sun, where he investigated the role of Alveolar macrophages in pulmonary infections and the interplay between Type I and Type II IFNs on antibacterial immunity during influenza-induced pneumococcal pneumonia. Immunology has always been his favorite subject since his undergrad. He graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in Biotechnology in 2014 from M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Karnataka, India. His love for immunology and microbiology led him to pursue a master’s degree in medical biotechnology from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he studied the cellular mechanisms in B-1 cells in response to an immunization strategy termed “suppressed immunization,” a therapeutic strategy to treat autoimmune diseases. Shortly after graduation, he moved to Boston and briefly worked for a biotech company before moving to Takeda Vaccines Inc. At Takeda, he was involved in determining Dengue vaccine efficacy in patient samples using the RVP-based serotype-specific neutralization assay. In Taylor lab, he will study the mechanism underlying B cell tolerance breakdown during infections and autoimmunity.

Dr. Palani enjoys cooking and finds it therapeutic. Outside the lab, he loves interior designing, gardening, and spending time with family and friends.

Alex Say, MD, (he/him)

Infectious Disease Fellow

07/2025-present
LinkedIn

Dr. Say is an Infectious Disease fellow at UVA. He earned his undergraduate degree at Louisiana Tech University, where he researched Candida albicans drug resistance in the Hindmarsh lab. He went on to receive his MD from the LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans. He completed his internal medicine residency at LSU in Baton Rouge, where he received several awards for medical student education and was selected as Chief Resident. In the Taylor lab, Dr. Say is studying the memory B cell response to pneumococcal polysaccharides, particularly in patients with HIV and older adults.

Outside the lab, Alex enjoys cooking, discovering new music, spending time with friends, and being outdoors—most recently hiking, sailing, and canoeing.

Haroldo Rodriguez, (he/him)

University of Washington Graduate Student in Taylor and Nghiem Labs

Member of the Carter Immunology Center Committee for Social Events
01/2021 - Present
LinkedIn

Haroldo Rodriguez is a Molecular Medicine and Mechanisms of Disease (M3D) PhD student at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is jointly mentored by Drs. Paul Nghiem at UW and Justin Taylor at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where Haroldo recently relocated to continue his studies on characterizing cancer-specific B cell responses in Merkel Cell Carcinoma (MCC). MCC is a rare and aggressive skin cancer that is primarily driven by integration and truncation of the Merkel Cell Polyomavirus (MCPyV) DNA into a host cell chromosome. This leads to expression of viral oncoproteins that are recognized by adaptive immune responses, enabling studies on cancer-specific immunity across MCC patients. Together with Drs. Nghiem and Taylor, Haroldo focuses on leveraging flow cytometry and single cell proteomic and transcriptomic approaches to untangle the complex web of B cell responses that may modulate tumor-specific immunity. Additionally, Haroldo is passionate about mentoring and training the next generation of scientists and has worked with multiple undergraduate students during his PhD years.

In his free time, Haroldo enjoys runs/hikes with his 6-year-old doggo, (badly) playing tennis, drinking craft beer, and hanging out with family and friends.

Seb Wang, MS, (he/him)

University of Virginia Biomedical Graduate Program Student

Secretary of the Carter Immunology Center Committee for Social Events
01/2024 - Present

Seb Wang is a BIMS PhD student. He received his B.S. in Philosophy as well as Microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh and ScM in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology from Johns Hopkins University. During his master’s program, he investigated the cytokine-secreting mechanism of plasmacytoid dendritic cells which can implicate autoimmune diseases like lupus. In the Taylor Lab, he is working on engineering B cells to secrete high titers of neutralizing antibodies against respiratory viruses. In addition, he is also particularly interested in the philosophy of science which he believes can help scientists investigate their interest more efficiently.

Outside of the lab, he likes cooking, biking, and gaming.

Darlene Malavé Ramos, (she/her)

University of Virginia Biomedical Graduate Program Student

Secretary of the Carter Immunology Center Committee for Social Events
02/2024 - Present

Darlene Malavé Ramos received her B.S. in Industrial Microbiology from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. Her undergraduate research focused on identifying and characterizing tetracycline-resistant bio-prospects in Caracolus marinella’s gut and Guánica’s Dry Forest metagenomic libraries. She joined the BIMS PhD program in 2023 and her work in the Taylor lab focuses on engineering B cells to potently protect against respiratory virus infections.

Outside the lab she likes to spend time with friends, watch TV, and play sports.

Julia Blaszczyk

University of Virginia Biomedical Graduate Program Student in the Taylor and the Anderson Labs

02/2025 - Present

Julia Blaszczyk completed her bachelor's and master's degrees in medical biotechnology at Pomeranian Medical University in Poland. During her undergraduate studies under the Erasmus Exchange Program, she participated at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences in a research project that focused on the development of a melting curve-based, multiplex single nucleotide extension method called Liquid Array Diagnostics technology for genotyping single nucleotide polymorphisms and its application to the detection of selected HPV variants associated with human pathology. She completed her bachelor's degree with a thesis on the importance of predictive models and universal tests in identifying Lynch syndrome. During her master’s studies, she participated in diagnostic genetic testing for cancer and targeted therapy projects during a one-year research internship at the Read-Gene company, and she evaluated the association of USP39 gene mutations with prostate cancer risk. Julia next completed a two-year research internship in the BioLab Program under a Fulbright Scholarship at UVA School of Medicine in Prof. David Wotton's Laboratory researching the interaction of metabolic and epigenetic control in colorectal cancer. Fascinated by the clinical potential of cancer immunology and immune cell engineering, she joined the BIMS PhD program and is studying B cell responses in ovarian cancer with and without immunotherapy.

Outside the lab, she enjoys singing, hiking, skiing, tennis and traveling.

Vignesh Senthilkumar

University of Virginia Medical Scientist Training Program Student

04/2025 - Present

Vignesh Senthilkumar is an MD/PhD student in the UVA Medical Scientist Training Program. Originally from Southern California, he received his B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics and a minor in History from UCLA. His undergraduate research primarily focused on inborn errors of immunity in NK cells. He stayed at UCLA for his gap year, investigating protein-protein interaction in the parasite Toxoplasma gondii. In the Taylor Lab, Vignesh is interested in post-infection auto-immunity, particularly anti-interferon antibodies produced after respiratory illnesses.

Outside of the lab, Vignesh is heavily involved with health policy, holding leadership positions in the student sections of both the Medical Society of Virginia and the American Medical Association. He also enjoys playing soccer and basketball, and exploring the great outdoors.

Macy Gilmour, (she/her)

Undergraduate University of Washington Undergraduate Lab Aide in the Nghiem Labs

Co-Mentored by Haroldo Rodriguez
10/2023 - Present

My name is Macy, and I am a junior at the University of Washington pursuing a biology degree. Science and discovering the mechanisms behind processes have interested me all my life, and I was fortunate to become involved in Merkel Cell Carcinoma research during my time in Dr. Paul Nghiem’s lab at the University of Washington. Through this work, I learned more about the role of the immune system in this form of skin cancer. The complexities of the immune system fascinated me, and I was able to join a collaborative project between the Nghiem lab and Taylor lab at UVA to further explore these interests.

In my free time I enjoy reading, hanging out with friends, and playing tennis.

Former Lab Members

Anna Buetow, (she/her)

07/2024 – 05/2025
Title: Laboratory Technician II
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Arianna Gravatt

03/2024 - 05/2025
Title: University of Virginia Undergraduate Student in the Taylor and Anderson Labs

Rian Alam, (he/him)

10/2023 - 05/2025
Title: Undergraduate University of Washington Undergraduate Lab Aide in the Nghiem Labs

Tina Nguyen

03/2024 - 05/2025
Title: University of Virginia Undergraduate Student in the Taylor and Anderson Labs
Subsequent position: Longwood University Master’s in speech-language pathology program

Allison Remington, (she/her)

09/2021 - 07/2024
Title: University of Washington Undergraduate Lab Aide in Taylor and Nghiem Labs
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Grady Gastelum, (he/him)

10/2022 - 07/2024
Title: Postdoctoral Innovation Scholar at Fred Hutch in the Taylor and Adair labs
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Katrina Poljakov, (she/her)

01/2022 - 07/2024
Title: Research Technician II at Fred Hutch in the Taylor and Adair labs
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Ally Kong

09/2022 - 08/2023
Title: Research Technician
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Elizabeth McCarthy

11/2022 - 08/2023
Title: Lab Manager for the Taylor, Lund, Prlic, and Boonyaratanakornkit labs.
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Francesca Urselli, MS

07/2020 - 08/2023
Title: Research Technician and Quality Assurance Manager
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Kayla Hopwo

10/2020 - 08/2023
Title: Research Technician
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Lea Kipnis

06/2022 - 08/2023
Title: Undergraduate Lab Aide
Subsequent position: Boonyaratanakornkit Lab, FHCC
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Matthew Gray, PhD

03/2020 - 08/2023
Title: Senior Staff Scientist
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Ren Ikeda

10/2022 - 05/2023
Title: Research Technician
Subsequent position: Boonyaratanakornkit Lab, FHCC

Molly Kanagy

10/2020 - 08/2022
Title: Research Technician
Subsequent position: Pathobiology PhD student, University of Washington
LinkedIn

Paula Culver

10/2016 - 08/2022
Title: Lab Manager for the Taylor, Lund, and Prlic labs.
LinkedIn

Jim Boonyaratanakornkit, MD, PhD

Email: jboonyar@fredhutch.org
02/2016 - 07/2022
Title: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow/Research Associate
Subsequent position: Boonyaratanakornkit Lab, FHCC
LinkedIn

Maddi Bibby

03/2021 - 07/2022
Title: Research Technician
Subsequent position: Boonyaratanakornkit Lab, FHCC
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Kristin Fitzpatrick

06/2018 - 06/2022
Title: Graduate Student
Subsequent position: Senior Research Associate, Mozart Therapeutics, Inc.
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Taylor Stepien, PhD

03/2021 - 06/2022
Title: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
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Julia McKechnie, PhD

10/2020 - 05/2022
Title: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
Subsequent position: Icosvax, Inc.
LinkedIn

Sara Romero

01/2020 - 04/2022
Title: Undergraduate Lab Aide

Jessica Schembri, MS

07/2019 - 12/2021
Title: Research Technician
Subsequent position: Research Technician, Princeton University

Madelyn Caban

07/2020 - 08/2021
Title: Post-Baccalaureate Researcher
Subsequent position: Immunology PhD student, University of Washington
LinkedIn

Erica Naibert

07/2019 - 03/2021
Title: Research Technician
Subsequent position: Umoja Biopharma
LinkedIn

Blair DeBuysscher, PhD

11/2014 - 11/2020
Title: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow/Research Associate
Subsequent position: University of Montana
Other Bio

Dillon Alwan

08/2017 - 07/2020
Title: Research Technician
Subsequent position: Dual MPH/MSUP Candidate at Columbia University
LinkedIn

Logan Mullen, MS

10/2019 - 07/2020
Title: Research Technician
Subsequent position: Genomics Core Lab Coordinator, University of Alaska Fairbanks
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Maggie Emerton

06/2019 - 01/2020
Title: Undergraduate Lab Aide
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Carson Harms, MS

10/2016 - 10/2019
Title: Research Technician
Subsequent position: Lyell Immunopharma
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Marti Tooley

11/2017 - 06/2019
Title: Research Technician
Subsequent position: Molecular Engineering PhD student, University of Washington
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Kristen Sievert

04/2018 - 03/2019
Title: Undergraduate Lab Aide
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Howell Moffett, PhD

01/2017 - 02/2019
Title: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow/Research Associate
Subsequent position: Outpace Bio
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Ali Schwartz

06/2016 - 07/2018
Title: Research Technician
Subsequent position: Recell Lead, United Therapeutics
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Melissa Baker

06/2017 - 07/2018
Formerly Part-time Undergraduate Lab Aide
08/2016 - 05/2017
Title: Research Technician
Subsequent position: School of Medicine, Georgetown University
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Tara Bancroft, PhD

11/2015 - 06/2018 (Co-Mentored by Dr. Leo Stamatatos)
Title: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
Subsequent position: Biotechnology Equity Research Associate, Piper Jaffray
LinkedIn

Alexandria Naftchi

06/2017 - 08/2017
Title: Undergraduate Summer Intern 2017
Subsequent position: Nanostring Technologies

Rachel Van Gelder

06/2017 - 08/2017
Title: Undergraduate Summer Intern 2017
Subsequent position: Immunology Graduate Student, University of Washington
LinkedIn

Anne Macy

09/2016 - 05/2017
Title: Part-time Undergraduate Lab Aide
Subsequent position: Research Technician, University of Arizona
LinkedIn

Karen Kim

08/2015 - 12/2016
Title: Research Technician
Subsequent position: University of Queensland Medical Student
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Holly Steach

05/2014 - 07/2016
Title: Research Technician
Subsequent position: Immunology Graduate Student, Yale University
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Nicole Na

08/2014 - 05/2015
Title: Research Technician
Subsequent position: Publications & Auxiliary Studies Project Manager, HIV Vaccine Trials Network
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David Buchholz

2014 and 2015
Title: Undergraduate Summer Intern
Subsequent position: PhD candidate, Washington State University

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