Cori Fain is a fourth year PhD student in the Immunology Track at Mayo Clinic Graduate School working on her thesis research in the Neuroimmunology Lab of Dr. Aaron Johnson. Cori has a passion for neuroimmunology and her research focuses on interrogating how peripheral infections can impact the brain. This area of research is understudied and it is known that the immune system plays a vital role in establishing these impacts on the brain. 

​

In this research project Cori focuses on the role of class I molecules as potential gatekeepers to the brain. In this work we demonstrate that during a peripheral malaria infection, parasite-specific CD8+ T cells may cause a complication resulting in neuroinflammation. It is unknown how this occurs. Here we show that these antigen specific CD8s must engage with H-2Kb class I molecule on cerebral endothelial cells in order to become fully activated and enter the brain parenchyma. If these CD8s do not engage, their is rescue of the deadly cerebral manifestation in the murine model of cerebral malaria. 

​

Cori's long-term goal is to remain in academic research and to someday run her own lab and research program.