Katharine Umphred-Wilson

RESEARCH SUMMARY

Katharine Umphred-Wilson is a PhD candidate from Case Western Reserve University currently working in the Experimental Immunology Branch of the National Cancer Institute. She graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a BS in Biotechnology & Molecular Bioscience in May 2017. In November 2017, she joined Dr. Stanley Adoro’s lab at Case Western to begin her PhD research in the Immunology Training Program. Her research focuses on the role of the proteostasis network in thymic development, peripheral T-cell homeostasis and T-cell leukemia. More specifically, her current projects focus on the ESCRT protein CHMP5 and how it functions to regulate cell survival by promoting protein stabilization in peripheral T-cells and T-cell leukemia. She also recently published on how the ERAD pathway promotes thymocyte development by preventing ER stress during β-selection. After graduation, she hopes to work in the biotechnology industry researching immunotherapy.

Areas of Expertise