UAB Briefs: Immunology program graduate, COVID-19 tests, NSF Fellows

In this weekly online feature, we keep track of interesting people and events on the UAB campus.

We also provide updates regarding the university's efforts to cope with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

For example, UAB will hold its first-ever virtual commencement ceremonies this weekend, May 1-2, with more than 2,700 students set to graduate.

For details, go to uab.edu/commencement.

For the latest updates on UAB’s response to COVID-19 and health information, visit uab.edu/coronavirus.

First graduate

When UAB holds its virtual commencement exercises this weekend, Peyton Blaylock — a graduate of Vestavia Hills High School — will become the first graduate of the university’s Undergraduate Immunology Program (UIP).

A collaboration between the School of Medicine and the College of Arts and Sciences, the UIP launched in 2017 and is one of few such programs in America, according to UAB Media Relations.

This major is designed to train the next generation of students who will go on to pursue careers in research and the health professions and likely lead the fight against the next pandemic, should we face one in the future

“Peyton is an outstanding example of the highly motivated students in the UIP who aspire to do great things at the next level,” said Louis Justement, professor of microbiology and UIP co-director.

The UIP is sponsored by the Department of Biology and the Department of Microbiology and offers an interdisciplinary four-year curriculum.

Courses focus on immunology, the innate immune system, the adaptive immune system, microbial pathogen-immune system interactions and immunologically mediated diseases. Students are also required to get hands-on experience working in immunology research laboratories. 

Blaylock also works as an EMT with Regional Paramedical Services. She began her college career at the University of Alabama, where she studied nursing for three years.

During her first year at UAB, Blaylock served as the inaugural president of the Undergraduate Immunology Society on campus.

“I wanted to create a community for students to not only gain academic direction, but also create a fun, warm and friendly environment in which students could form relationships with the people they are going to be with for the next four years,” Blaylock said.

Blaylock works in the research lab of Dr. Shinichi Kano in neuroscience, immunology and psychology. They are studying the neurobiology of the brain.

“The UIP has truly been a blessing, and I feel more than equipped to start my next phase in life — PA school.”

Blaylock is now applying to PA schools and, once accepted, will start in August 2021. UAB is her No. 1 choice, followed by Samford and UT Southwestern. 

Emergency medicine and obstetrics/gynecology are among the fields she is considering for her career.

Testing, testing

Testing has been a major concern since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the clinicians and researchers at the UAB Department of Pathology are working around the clock to make testing available for as many people as possible and to provide the results as quickly as they can.

“Our department faculty and staff have been both proactive and nimble in our response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr. George Netto, the chair of the Department of Pathology, in a UAB news release.

When UAB launched a laboratory-developed COVID-19 test in March, it became one of the first academic medical centers in America to offer in-house testing.

This resulted from efforts in molecular testing led by Dr. Sixto Leal, an assistant professor in the Division of Laboratory Medicine.

Leal and his team are currently testing between 300 and 500 samples daily with COVID-19 RNA testing, confirming the presence of the virus in patients, with a turnaround time of less than 24 hours. 

This includes all inpatient admissions and health care workers, as well as all patients undergoing surgical procedures at UAB Hospital, and labor and delivery patients. 

A second COVID-19 RNA testing platform with less than two hours’ turnaround time is now operational.

“Our ability to scale up to high-throughput testing platforms has allowed us to support rural and affiliate hospitals throughout our county and state,” Netto said.

“Our team has adapted to many challenges in the face of this pandemic, from initiating our own laboratory-developed tests to securing PPE and testing supplies, and ensuring all shifts are covered around the clock with personnel,” he said.

Prestigious fellowships

A UAB doctoral student, a graduate student and four recent alumni have been awarded prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowships, according to UAB Media Relations.

The NSF receives more than 12,000 applications for fellowships each year and awards only about 2,000.

“NSF fellowships are highly competitive,” said Ashley Kuntz, director of UAB National and International Fellowships and Scholarships. “It speaks highly of all the UAB faculty who have trained these students and continue to invest in their success.”

The awardees include the following:

• Queenisha Crichlow is pursuing a doctorate in medical clinical psychology at UAB. Crichlow is studying socio-cultural risk and protective factors that reduce the likelihood of poor academic achievement, substance use and delinquency among African-American youth.
• Niharika Loomba, a UAB Honors College alumna who earned a degree in neuroscience, will begin graduate studies at Vanderbilt University this fall. She studies the connectivity between specific brain regions in neurodevelopmental disorders.
• Beau Johnson, a UAB Honors College alumnus who graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering, is pursuing a doctorate at Vanderbilt University and conducting research in biomechanics and assistive technologies, such as exoskeletons and prostheses.
• Don Long, who completed the Prep Scholars Program at UAB, is a first-year doctoral student at Cornell University studying the gut microbiome as it pertains to starch degradation.
• Catherine Marie Porter, who graduated from UAB with a degree in biomedical engineering, is continuing her studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

The full fellowships provide up to three years of support for graduate education, including a $34,000 annual stipend plus $12,000 per year toward the cost of graduate work. 

Past NSF fellows include numerous Nobel Prize winners, such as Google founder Sergey Brin, “Freakonomics” co-author Steven Levitt and former U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.