The Center for Human Immunobiology Annual Scientific Retreat

Thursday, July 16, 2026

4:30 - 7:30 PM                  

Pre-retreat Dinner
Gino's East - Mag Mile

Friday, July 17, 2026

8:30 – 9:00 AM           

Check-In & Light Breakfast

9:00 – 9:30 AM          

Welcome, Mohamed Abdel Mohsen, PhD; Margaret Gray Morton Professor of Medicine Associate Professor, Medicine (Infectious Diseases)

Center Updates, Stephanie Eisenbarth, MD, PhD;
Chief of Allergy & Immunology; Director of the CHI

9:30 – 10:00 AM           

2025 CHI Pilot Grant Winners Update “Targeting the Siglec-10 Glyco-Immune Checkpoint in Pancreatic Cancer”
Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen, PhD
Hidayatullah G. Munshi, MD

10:00 – 10:20 AM

10:30 – 10:50 AM     

Northwestern Faculty Talk #1
"Lyme Disease Through the Lens of Glycobiology: From Host–Pathogen Interactions to Immune-Informed Diagnostics"
Brandon L Jutras, PhD
Associate Professor, Microbiology-Immunology

Northwestern Faculty Talk #2
"The Human Experiment: Learning Food Allergy Mechanisms Through Controlled Food Challenges" 
M Cecilia Berin, PhD
Bunning Professor of Food Allergy Research
Professor, Medicine (Allergy and Immunology)

11:00 - 11:30 AM      

Coffee Break 

11:30 - 11:50 AM           

Northwestern Faculty Talk #3
"Endotyping ulcerative colitis through multi-modal data integration"
Parambir S Dulai, MD
Associate Professor, Medicine (Gastroenterology and Hepatology)

12:00 - 12:30 PM        

Trainee lightning talks

Bia Bruza, Chandel Lab; "Defining the mitochondrial signals that dictate Treg cell suppressive function"

Jonathan Gurkan, Singer Lab; "CPT1A is necessary for Treg cell function during viral pneumonia" 

Joshua Strauss, Godley Lab; "Testing how germline DDX41 cancer risk alleles affect the immune system across the age spectrum"

Ryan Brown, Cui Lab; "Longitudinal single-cell linage tracing reveals TCR sequence shapes CD8 T cell differentiation and expansion"

Yingying Li, Zhang Lab; "Expanding the ACT paradigm: B cell engineering via spherical nucleic acids for cancer immunotherapy"

12:30 - 1:30 PM

Lunch

1:30 – 2:30 PM                

Keynote Presentation
"Induction and maintenance of mucosal immunity across the human lifespan."
Donna L. Farber, PhD
George H. Humphreys, II Professor of Surgical Sciences (in Surgery), Chief, Division of Surgical Sciences and Professor of Microbiology & Immunology

2:30 – 4:00 PM                

Career Panel - "From Academia to Industry: Careers, Challenges, and Opportunities"

Panelists

Thomas Ciucci, PhD
Director – T Cell Engager Discovery
AstraZeneca

Ariana Harris, PhD
Partner
Foley Hoag LLP

Kathleen McGuire, PhD
Principal Research Scientist
Abbvie

Andrew McKnight, PhD
Executive Director, Senior Cluster Head Immune Checkpoint Cluster
Sanofi

4:00 - 5:30 PM        

Poster Session
Group A from 4:00 – 4:45 pm
Group B from 4:45 – 5:30 pm
with Reception Bar and Food

5:30 - 5:45 PM                

Poster Session Awards + Final Remarks
Stephanie Eisenbarth, MD, PhD