Steven Moioffer successfully defended his M.S. thesis this past December and completed the Pathology M.S. program. Steven’s thesis is entitled Impact of Sepsis on Pathogen-specific Circulating and Resident Memory CD8 T Cell Subsets. He performed his thesis work in the laboratory of Dr. Vladimir Badovinac where he sought to understand how sepsis impacts tissue resident memory CD8+ T cells. This study is part of a broader effort in the Badovinac laboratory investigating the basis for immunoparalysis after septic events. Using a cecal ligation and puncture mouse model of sepsis, Mr. Moioffer found that severe (compared with moderate) sepsis resulted in a loss of resident memory T cells, which in turn lead to increased susceptibility to infection. Similar results were found when he examined the effect of sepsis on tumor infiltrating memory CD8+ T cells. These findings have direct relevance to patients who recover from severe sepsis and their ability to subsequently mount protective memory CD8+ T cell–dependent responses. In addition to Dr. Badovinac, Drs. John Harty and Kevin Legge served on his committee.

Importantly, the results of Steven’s thesis were recently published in the Journal of Immunology. The paper can be viewed at: https://www.jimmunol.org/content/207/7/1871.long