Following a competitive selection process, Ashlyn Anderson was chosen as the recipient of the inaugural Tanner MS Scholar Award. Ashlyn is a 4th year PhD student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) enrolled in the UAB Graduate Biomedical Sciences Immunology Theme. Ashlyn has a deep interest in immunology and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) research, with plans to continue investigating aspects of neuroimmunology and MS pathogenesis following the completion of her PhD training.
Ashlyn will work closely with the UAB MS Center and leading laboratory researcher, Dr. Laurie Harrington, to examine the role of the immune system in Multiple Sclerosis and to identify potential new therapies for this disease. Specifically, Ashlyn will be studying Th17 cells and STAT4, a molecule involved in CNS inflammation and identified as an MS susceptibility gene.
This exciting new program is made available through funding from the Tanner Foundation for Neurological Diseases and offers young neuroscientists the opportunity to engage in focused work that contributes toward therapeutic discovery related to Multiple Sclerosis and neuroimmunological disease.