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Jenny Ting

Dr. Ting is a William R Kenan Jr. Distinguish Professor of Genetics at UNC-CH. She is also a member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Center for Translational Immunology and the Department of Microbiology-Immunology.  She earned her B.S. from Illinois State University, her Ph.D. at Northwestern University and carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Southern California and at Duke University. She joined the UNC faculty in 1984 as an Assistant Professor and rose rapidly through the ranks, becoming a full professor in 1993. She was the vice president of AAI (The American Association of Immunologists) from 2019-2020 and the president  from 2020-2021.

 

Dr. Ting has studied the transcriptional master regulator of class II Major Histocompatibility (MHC) genes called CIITA (class II transactivator) for over a decade. Based on the structure of CIITA, Dr. Ting’s lab found a large family of genes that encode similar structural motifs as CIITA. This family was name the NLR and they are important for immune defense against bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and damage-associated molecules. Her lab studies the biological effects that these NLR proteins have in inflammatory, cancer and autoimmune diseases.

 

In addition, her lab also has projects involving the microbiome, neuro-inflammation, an immune activating microparticle delivery system, and mitigators of radiation induced toxicity.

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Research Assistant Professors

June Brickey
Research Assistant
Professor, (Microbiology-Immunology)

June earned her B.S. from University of Maryland in 1986 and her Ph.D. from Duke University in 1995. June then did her Postdoc in the Ting lab until 2002, when she joined as a research assistant. Her research focuses on the mitigation of radiation induced toxicity through delivery of immune agonists.

Wei-chun (Emily) Chou

Emily received her B.S. from the National Taiwan University. She completed both her M.S. and Ph.D. from the National Taiwan University as well. Her Ph.D. work focused on understanding how STAT3 positively regulates an early step in B cell development. Her current research in the Ting lab focuses on using different autoimmune diseases and tumor models to study the underlying mechanisms of NLR molecules and inflammasomes in adaptive immune cells.

Michael W. Linhoff
John Wrobel

Research Specialists 

Elizabeth Guthrie

Elizabeth Guthrie received her B.S. in Biology from Marshall University and her Ph.D in Biomedical Sciences/Microbiology from a Marshall University/West Virginia University joint program. She has been a lab manager and bench scientist at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center for 35 years (She joined the Ting lab in 2006) and has contributed to numerous publications in the fields of EBV virology and various study areas of immunology in the Ting lab.

Michael Thompson

Michael Thompson is currently a Research Specialist and Laboratory Animal Coordinator (LAC) in Dr. Jenny Ting’s Lab. He attended East Carolina University for undergraduate and graduate studies with extensive background in animal-based research models and molecular biology. His over 35 years research experience scanned both private and academia sectors, including Research Triangle Park, Duke University Medical Center and currently the Center for Translational Immunology (CTI), and Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC) in the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill. He joined the Ting Lab in 2012.

Business Officer - Research Admin Liaison

Kathy Collier

Kathy Collier received her BA in English from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She serves as the Business Officer and Research Admin Liaison for the Ting Lab.  Kathy has over 30 years of experience working in an administrative setting in both private and medical sectors. Kathy joined the Ting Lab in 2021.

Post-Docs

Katherine Barnett

​Originally from Louisiana, Katherine went to Tulane University as an undergraduate, where she began studying immunology and virology as a trainee at the Tulane National Primate Research Center. In graduate school, Katherine was a part of the Virology Ph.D. Program at Harvard University and studied pattern recognition receptors in Dr. Jonathan Kagan’s lab. As a postdoctoral fellow in the Ting lab, Katherine is studying the inflammasome response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, the roles of different pattern recognition receptors in COVID-19, and the effect of cell death and damage in the propagation of inflammation by viral infection. 

Silian Chen

After earning his B.S. at Wuhan University in 2013, Silian went on his scientific journey as a graduate student under the guidance of Dr. Ye Xiang at Tsinghua University, where he focused on cutting-edge research involving cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and nucleic acids-induced phase separation of cGAS. In 2020, he earned his Ph.D. in biology through the Peking University-Tsinghua University joint program. In 2023, Silian joined Ting Lab as a Postdoctoral Research Associate, exploring the undefined functions of NLRs, and unraveling the intricacies of cellular processes in immune response.

Martin Hsu

Martin earned his B.S. from the University of California Irvine, where he did undergraduate research and became the lab manager for Dr. Dritan Agalliu looking at the mechanisms of blood-brain barrier breakdown during disease.  Martin went on to do his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin Madison under Dr. Zsuzsanna Fabry where he studied neuroimmune communication, focusing on the role of meningeal lymphatic vessels during neuroinflammation.  His current research in the Ting lab is on the role of NLRs within the central nervous system during neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.  Additionally, Martin is interested in how the microbiome may shape CNS autoimmunity pathogenesis.

Xiaoqing Hu

Xiaoqing studied Life Science and obtained her B.S. at Henan Normal University. She earned M.S. and Ph.D. at the Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, China, majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. During her Ph.D. studies, she focused on clarifying the mechanisms of DNA sensing and DNA-induced innate immunity. She joined Dr. Ting’s lab as a postdoc fellow in 2023 and her current research focuses on elucidating the function of RNA binding molecule in myeloid cells and lymphoid cells to better regulate anti-virus and anti-tumor immune responses.

Guannan (Bela) Huang

Bela received her PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from University of Georgia where she became intrigued in studying gut microbiota. Following a postdoc in Frederick National Lab for Cancer Research, Bela joined Ting lab in 2020 and her interest includes microbiota in various disease models including colitis, multiple sclerosis, and irradiation. When not busy uncovering the secrets of the bugs, you might find Bela tickling Eppendorf tubes, telling nerdy science jokes that others do not find entertaining, or spending time with her cat.

Sirui Li

Sirui earned her MS and PhD degrees at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Biophysics. During her Ph.D., she concentrated on the mechanism study of malignant transformation of chronic hepatitis. Her research in the Ting lab focuses on how immune cells' DNA detecting proteins influence the immune system's anti-tumor response.

Kaixin (Kathy) Liang

Kaixin attended Shanghai Jiao Tong University for her bachelor's degree and studied clinical dentistry. During her studies, she became interested in research and applied for a doctoral degree in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was admitted into Oral and Craniofacial Biomedicine Ph.D. program in Adams School of Dentistry in 2018 and finished her PhD training in 2023 in Ting lab. Currently, she works as a post-doc in Ting lab and focuses on viral infection and how viral infection can induce cell death.

Shuangshuang Yang

Shuangshuang earned her Master’s degree in Tumor Biology from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from Indiana University, specializing in the study of pulmonary diseases. She joined the Ting Lab in December 2020, where her research primarily centers on the study of flu vaccines and nucleic acid sensing process in immune cells. Although she spends most of her time quietly working at her bench, she has a knack for sharing Shuanshuang’s brand of jokes that others do find entertaining. Beyond her scientific pursuits, she possesses a passion for food and music.

Graduate Students

Brian Fay
Justin Markov Madanick

Justin obtained his BS in microbiology from Virginia Tech in 2021 where he started working on immunology in the lab of Dr. Irving Coy Allen. For a brief period after, he continued in the Allen lab as a technician researching immune responses to infection as well as cancer. He joined the Ting lab in April 2023 as a M&I PhD student and is investigating immunity elicited by novel mRNA vaccines.

Lab Research Technician

Mason Smith
LAB ALUMNI
(last 10 years)
Past Post-Docs​​​

  • Adam Sandor (2019-2024) - AbbVie

  • Jeremy Ratiu (2022) - Senior Scientist, Seraxis, Inc.

  • Austin Graves (2021-2022) - Field Application Specialist, Refeyn

  • Hao Guo (2016-2022) - Xiamen University, China

  • Daysi M. Diaz Diestra (2020-2021) - Biological Safety Specialist, NAMSA

  • Dingka Song (2019-2020) - Assistant Investigator, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine

  • Haitao Guo (2013-2021) - Senior Scientist II, AbbVie

  • Megan Schmidt (2019-2020) - Medical Writer, MedThink SciCom

  • Xin Li (2014-2020) -Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine, China Agricultural University

  • Sara Gibson (2017-2019) - Medical Writer, MedThink SciCom

  • Dana Hardbower-Elmore (2017-2019) - Scientist, Locus Biosciences

  • Jason Tam (2015-2019) - Senior Scientist, AbbVie Inc.

  • Brandon Johnson (2014-2019) - Research Investigator, Bristol-Myers Squibb

  • Robert Junkins (2014-2019) - Director of Drug Discovery, IMMvention Therapeutix

  • Toru Uchimura (2014-2019)- Assistant Professor, Dept. of Pediatrics, Yokohama City Medical Center, Yokohama, Japan

  • Elena Rampanelli (2016-2018) - Postdoc, University of Amsterdam

  • Alicia Koblansky (2012-2018) - Investigator-Molecular Immunology, ViiV Healthcare

  • Karen Swanson (2011-2018) - Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, UNC-CH

  • Justin Wilson (2009-2018) - Assistant Professor, University of Arizona

  • Clement David (2015-2017) - Field Applications Specialist, NanoString

  • Alex Petrucelli (2012-2017) - Account Manager, Bio-Rad Laboratories

  • Aga Truax (2011-2017) - Study Director, Project Management, Metabolon

  • Cate Kurkjian-Robbins (2013-2016) - Design Code Build Program Coordinator, Computer History Museum

  • Yoshi Oyama (2012-2015) - Assistant Professor, Dept. of Pediatrics, Yokohama City Medical Center, Yokohama, Japan

  • Gregory Robbins (2011-2014) - Research Scientist, Carbon 3D

  • Tim Eitas (2010-2014) - Scientist, Mersana Therapeutics

  • Jessica Chen (2012-2013) - Assistant Professor, Taipei Medical College

  • Haitao Wen (2008-2013) - Assistant Professor, Ohio State University

Past Graduate Students
  • Rebekah Watkins-Schulz (2015-2020) - Specialist, Project Management and Clinical Pharmacology, Nuventra
  • Meng Deng (2014-2019) - Dental Residency, UNC-CH
  • Ning Chen (2014-2018) - Postdoc., Stanford University
  • Liang (Leo) Chen (2013-2018) - Senior Scientist, AbbVie Inc.
  • Rongrong Liu (2013-2015) – Associate Professor, Fourth Military Medical University, China
  • Justin Callaway (2009-2015) - Associate Scientific Director, Johnson & Johnson
  • Lu Zhang (2010-2014) - Senior Scientist, Scientific Board Executive Secretary, TCRCure Biopharma Inc.
  • Reid Roberts (2008-2013) - Maine General Medical Center, practicing physician

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