{"692609":{"#nid":"692609","#data":{"type":"event","title":"PhD Defense by Valeria M. Juarez","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EValeria M. Juarez\u003Cbr\u003EBME PhD Defense Presentation\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EDate: 2026-09-28\u003Cbr\u003ETime: 11:00 AM-1:00 PM\u003Cbr\u003ELocation \/ Meeting Link: EBB Krone CHOA Seminar Room \/ \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/ValeriaPhDDefense\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/tinyurl.com\/ValeriaPhDDefense\u003C\/a\u003E \/ Join Zoom Meeting \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/emory.zoom.us\/j\/96915851555?pwd=DXbDgWjXmjARbKeAD6UGLIovqFlpzS.1\u0022\u003Ehttps:\/\/emory.zoom.us\/j\/96915851555?pwd=DXbDgWjXmjARbKeAD6UGLIovqFlpzS.1\u003C\/a\u003E Meeting ID: 969 1585 1555 Passcode: 144494\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECommittee Members:\u003Cbr\u003EAnkur Singh, PhD (Advisor) Andr\u00e9s J. Garc\u00eda, PhD Ahmet Coskun, PhD David Myers, PhD Michael H. Woodworth, MD, MSc, FIDSA\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ETitle: Bioengineering Human Immune Niches Across Scales to Model Gut-Lymphoid Crosstalk and B Cell Responses\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EAbstract:\u003Cbr\u003EA critical challenge in immunology is understanding how the intestinal environment communicates with the immune system to shape human immune responses in health and inflammatory diseases. Conventional in vitro models often study these components in isolation, limiting the ability to capture the complex interactions that occur in humans. This dissertation develops engineered human immune tissue platforms that recreate key features of immune microenvironments across biological scales. An integrated gut\u2013immune microphysiological system was established to investigate communication along the gut\u2013immune axis, inflammation, and therapeutic response. Human immune organoids were developed to define how microbiome-derived bacterial and metabolic signals regulate immune cell function and antibody production. In parallel, degradable biomaterial microenvironments were engineered to examine how local extracellular cues influence immune tissue organization and humoral immunity. These studies establish a modular immunoengineering framework for modeling human immunity and provide new tools to investigate host\u2013microbiome interactions, inflammatory diseases including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), vaccine responses, and therapeutic outcomes in human-relevant systems.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBioengineering Human Immune Niches Across Scales to Model Gut-Lymphoid Crosstalk and B Cell Responses\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Bioengineering Human Immune Niches Across Scales to Model Gut-Lymphoid Crosstalk and B Cell Responses"}],"uid":"27707","created_gmt":"2026-09-16 12:45:38","changed_gmt":"2026-09-16 12:46:14","author":"Tatianna Richardson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2026-09-28T11:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2026-09-28T13:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2026-09-28T13:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2026-09-28 15:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2026-09-28 17:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2026-09-28 17:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"location":"EBB Krone CHOA Seminar Room \/ ZOOM","extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"221981","name":"Graduate Studies"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"100811","name":"Phd Defense"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1788","name":"Other\/Miscellaneous"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78771","name":"Public"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}