May 13, 2025 – Pathology Young Investigator’s Day
Our students participated in the PYID with three wonderful posters!
We congratulate Ina Sulkaj (picture below on the left) for being this year’s winner in the Basic Research category!
December 4th, 2024
Executive Director, Sandra Boek Werness and Board members Bruce Werness and Liz Loftus, from the Global Autoimmune Institute visited our lab and listened to the progress of the research they are supporting in the Cihakova Laboratory!
Camille Jaime, Abdel Daoud, Robin Welsh, Wonyoung Jo, Monica Vladut Talor, Bruce Werness, Zhiwen Dong, Liz Loftus, Ralph Hruban, Sandra Boek Werness, Vivian Sun, Daniela Cihakova, Xinyi Zhong
Ralph Hruban, Bruce Werness, Liz Loftus, Sandra Boek Werness and Daniela Cihakova
August 2, 2024
David Elias received his PhD from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Graduate Program in Immunology! David is now continuing his medical training .
May 3, 2024
Celebration of 100+ years of Virology and Immunology
Celebration of History at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
December 15, 2023
Hannah Kalinoski received her PhD from the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology (MMI)
September 13, 2023
Our students participated in the 22nd Annual Retreat for the Graduate Program in Immunology: Camille Jaime, David Elias and Ina Sulkaj
June 6, 2023
Johns Hopkins University School Of Medicine
Department of Pathology 2023 award celebration!
Our lab was well represented:
Pathology Young Investigator’s day 2023-Excellence in Basic Research: Hannah M. Kalinoski and David M. Hughes
Excellence in Clinical Research: Taejoon Won PhD
Grover M. Hutchins MD Memorial Research award- Diego Alberto Lema Rodriguez MD, PhD
Congratulations!
May 18, 2023
David Hughes received his PhD from Johns Hopkins School of Engineering!
May 17, 2023
Abdel Rahman Doaud received his Masters degree from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health!
April 18, 2023
Executive Director, Sandy Boek Werness, for the Global Autoimmune Institute visited our laboratory and discussed our research projects with various students in the lab. Some of our research has been sponsored by the Global Autoimmune Institute. Mrs Werness was impressed with our research and we hope for continued collaborations between our laboratory and the Global Autoimmune Institute.
March 28, 2023
Our lab is well represented at the 25th Annual Department of Pathology- Young Investigators Day
March 16, 2023
Diego Lema MD, PhD, was awarded the Grover M Hutchins MD Memorial research Award
February 20, 2023
Abdel Rahman Daoud, Master’s student in the Cihakova lab presented his work to the new student recruits in the Blomberg School of Public Health.
January 11, 2023
Dr. Cihakova was interviewed for News on Cancer Discovery
December 22, 2022
We congratulate David Elias for receiving his American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship and Diego Lema MD, PhD on receiving his American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship!
December 9, 2022
2022 Lab Picture – Welcome to our new students!
October 3, 2022
It has been an honor to represent our laboratory’s work at the 2022 8th Annual Golf Tournament (Trump National Golf Club, Potomac Falls, VA) in support of the Matthew Vernon Poyner Memorial Foundation. We thank the Poyner family for all their support !
August 2022
Please welcome Dr. Daniela Ciháková as our new Deputy Director for Faculty Development.
As Deputy Director for Faculty Development, Daniela will continue Dr. Charles Eberhart’s efforts to establish a robust and individualized mentoring program supporting junior faculty in the Department of Pathology. Junior faculty face high attrition rates due to challenges in finding effective mentorship, identifying the main research goals for their labs, securing grant funding, and obtaining resources to support career development and research. Daniela will set up mentoring committees for new junior faculty members with a focus on their carrier needs and scholarship path. Daniela will work with new hires and struggling faculty to identify grant opportunities. Daniela will also work with other members of the departmental promotions committee to provide analysis of candidates’ strengths and weaknesses before they go before the university-wide promotion committee.
July 2022
Dr. Diego A. Lema presented at the American Heart Association , Basic Cardiovascular Sciences 2022-July 25-28, 2022. Press release.
May 2022
HeeSun Choi PhD Graduation!
Awards
Taejoon Won PhD, was presented the Grover M Hutchins MD Memorial research Award as well as the Young Investigator’s award in Immunopathology
Diego Alberto Lema Rodriguez MD, PhD has won the Young Investigator’s award for his work “A monoclonal antibody blocking IL-1 receptor accessory protein reduces acute viral myocarditis severity” and will be presenting his work at the Pathology Grand Rounds in June 2022
Vitali Rusinkevich received his award for completion of his post doctoral fellowship.
November 2021
Our lab is growing! Welcome to all the new students
June – August 2021
Hannah Kalinoski (PhD candidate) has had a very productive spring and summer and was honored to be able to present her ongoing research at multiple meetings and workshops. In addition, she was the recipient of numerous awards.
Awards
- MMI T32 Training Grant (2021-2022)
- Meeting the Challenges of Myocarditis Workshop Poster Presentation: Winner in Basic Research Category (2021)
- Pathology Young Investigators’ Day Presentation: Winner in Basic Research Category (2021)
- Fredrick Bang Award (2021-2022)
Presentations
- Meeting the Challenges of Myocarditis Workshop Poster Presentation
- Pathology Young Investigators’ Day Presentation
- AAI Immunology 2021 Conference
October 2020
July 2020
Hannah Kalinoski Award – MMI Molecular and Cellular Basis of Infectious Disease T32 Training Grant
Project Title – Presence of myosin specific tissue resident memory T-cells in the heart predispose development of immune checkpoint inhibitor-myocarditis
June 2020
Megan Wood, a forth year PhD student, received an F31 for her project exploring the role of PD-L1 on macrophages during collagen induced arthritis in mice.
May 2020
Hannah Kalinoski (PhD candidate) was recently awarded a 2020 Delta Omega Scholarship. The Delta Omega chapter at the John Hopkins University School of Public Health selects winners by grading applicants on their project proposal’s feasibility, scientific/scholarly merit, and significance to public health. Hannah received the award in the Laboratory Research category for her project “The role of antibody mediated apoptosis of salivary gland stem-like epithelial cells in the pathogenesis of Sjogren’s syndrome.”
October 12, 2019
Our lab participated in the American Heart Association Heart Walk! Thank you all for coming out to support The American Heart Association that supports some of our research as well as supporting all the people that are battling heart disease!
August 30, 2019
Megan Wood has successfully completed her Doctoral Board Oral Examination and was recognized with a celebratory White coat ceremony and reception at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health!
July 18, 2019
Disrupting Immune Cell Behavior May Contribute to Heart Disease And Failure, Study Shows – Press release
Johns Hopkins-Led Research Suggests Problem Protein May Be Key to Future Therapies
June 14, 2019 – Autoimmunity Day
June 7, 2019
Free Doughnuts! lab members taking a break!
June 4, 2019
Saying Good-by to Dr. William Bracamonte-Baran as he moves on to a residency program in Texas!
May 10, 2019 – Lab Pic
April 22, 2019 – Easter Egg Hunt
March 27, 2019
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Young Investigators’ Day Presentations!
Very productive lab! This year we had 5 posters by our PhD Students: HeeSun Choi, Megan Wood and David Hughes and our post doctoral fellows: Taejoon Won and William Bracamonte-Baran!
February 8, 2019
David Hughes reviewing T cell Immunology at our Lab meeting
January 23, 2019
January 23, 2019
Rhett Lundy Memorial Research Fellowship Grant Recipient: Dr. Taejoon Won, PhD
December 7, 2018 – Happy Holidays Lab Lunch
April 24, 2018 – Working hard and having fun
March 13, 2018
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Young Investigators’ Day Presentations
January 24, 2018
Dr. Cihakova presented at the Johns Hopkins Department of Medicine, Cardiology Grand Rounds!
October 28, 2017
Dr. Cihakova was interviewed for the Business News in the Chech Republic newspaper.
October 14th, 2017
Our lab participated in the American Heart Association Heart Walk! Thank you all for coming out to support The American Heart Association that supports some of our research as well as supporting all the people that are battling heart disease!
October 5th, 2017
Dr. Daniela Cihakova lectured at the Fifth Annual Pathology Educational Symposium: Laboratory Diagnostic of Celiac Disease and Gluten-related disorders.
September 2017
Congratulations, Hee Sun Choi!
We are proud to announce that Hee Sun Choi, a graduate student in the Pathobiology Graduate Program, has been awarded the MAA Winter 2016 Predoctoral Fellowship. The 2-year award was granted to Hee Sun by the Research Committee of the American Heart Association to fund her project: Role of group 2 innate lymphoid cells in eosinophilic pericarditis.
Hee Sun Choi was born in Seoul, South Korea and received her Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Biotechnology from Yonsei University in 2009 and 2011, respectively. While at Yonsei University, the main focus of her research was protein folding. Hee Sun joined the laboratory of Daniela Cihakova, M.D., Ph.D., and has been studying the mechanism of the development of pericarditis-inflammation in the heart. Her long term goal is to contribute to developing more effective ways to prevent and treat human diseases.
August 2017
Saying good-by to our summer students: Katerina Havlik student at Muhlenberg Collage entering her senior year this fall; and Vivian Sun, High School Senior! Wishing you both success in your future endeavors!
June 2017 – Celebration of 3 new grants
May 19, 2017
Dr. Nicola Diny was awarded today The Myocarditis Foundation Research Fellowship for 2017-2018 in Basic Research! Congratulations Dr. Diny!
Other presentations from our lab at the Cardiovascular Retreat
March 28, 2017
Dr. Guobao Chen had the honor of presenting his research today at the Keystone Symposium. Dr Chen had both an oral presentation and a poster and was awarded the Keystone Symposia Scholarship Certificate! Congratulations Dr. Chen!
March 23, 2017 – Pathology Young Investigator’s Day
March 16, 2017
Rare Type of Immune Cell Responsible for Progression of Heart Inflammation to Heart Failure in Mice
March 7, 2017
Congratulations to Nicola Diny for successfully defending her dissertation and becoming Dr. Nicola Diny!
January 2017
Dr. Guobao Chen was awarded today The Myocarditis Foundation Research Fellowship for 2017-2018 for his work on “The Role of PDGFRa+ Cardiac Fibroblast in Myocarditis”.
Congratulations Dr. Chen! – Press release
December 7, 2016
The back cover of the European Journal of Immunology features an H & E picture from our latest publication!
June 3, 2016 – Cardiovascular Research Retreat
Congratulations to Paul who won first place in the Stanley L. Blumenthal, MD Basic Science Poster Competition at the retreat!
May 26, 2016 – Postdoctoral Retreat
One of our postdoctoral fellows, Guobao (Paul) Chen, Ph.D., presented a poster.
May 20, 2016 – The American Heart Association Fellowships
Congratulations to Xuezhou (Snow) Hou, William Bracamonte-Baran, Ph.D., and Hee Sun Choi, M.S. on receiving fellowships from the American Heart Association!
March 30, 2016 – Pathology Young Investigator’s Day
Our Ph.D. candidate students and one of our postdoctoral fellows presented posters. Congratulations to our Ph.D. candidate, Nicola Diny, M.S., who won an award for Excellence in Translational Research for her poster presentation at this event!
