

Deborah J. Fowell, DPhil
(she/her)
Principal Investigator
Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology & Immunology
Co-Director, Cornell Center for Immunology
Co-Director, Friedman Center for Nutrition and Inflammation
Dr. Fowell assumed her position as Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in October 2020. Previously, she was Dean’s Professor in the David H. Smith Center for Vaccine Biology and Immunology and the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. where she had worked since 2000.
She received a B.Sc. degree in Cellular Pathology from Bristol University in the UK in 1988 and was awarded a Ph.D. (rather a D.Phil.) in immunology from University of Oxford in 1992. She performed postdoctoral studies at the Oxford Sir William Dunn School of Pathology and at University of California, San Francisco in the Infectious Disease Division.
Dr. Fowell's work fills a niche in the Cornell immunology community, bridging fundamental immunology and cellular and tissue imaging. Her research program continues to be supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Scott A. Leddon, PhD
(he/him)
Senior Research Associate
As the Senior Research Associate in the Fowell Laboratory, Scott functions as the lab’s go-to for experimental planning, technical implementation, and data analysis.
His primary research focus is to understand how temporal and microanatomical cues within the germinal center impact the ability of T cells to effectively help B cells. Spatiotemporal cues controlling the germinal center reaction represent an attractive immunomodulatory target to either enhance protective antibody responses to pathogens or to diminish antibody-mediated autoimmunity.
Scott completed his Ph.D. at the laboratory of Andrea Sant where he worked on understanding the antigen-specificity of T follicular helper cells after vaccination. He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Jim Miller where he identified a dimerization domain within CD28, before joining the laboratory of Deborah Fowell in 2017. As a postdoctoral associate in the Fowell lab, Scott identified a critical role for alpha-v integrin expression by CD4 T cells for the generation of long-lived plasma cells.
In October 2020, Scott moved with Deborah Fowell to the Department of Microbiology & Immunology in the College for Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
GRADUATE STUDENTS
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
RESEARCH SUPPORT STAFF
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Our Research Group

LAB ALUMNI
Name
Fowell Lab Position
Current Position (Fall 2022)
Wenting (Amber) Gao
PhD Student
PhD Student, Cornell University
Shiveen Kumar
Undergraduate
Senior, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University
Alexandra Iankoulska
Laboratory Technician
PhD Student, SUNY Upstate Medical University
Noah Salama
Graduate Student
MD/PhD Student, Calvi Lab, University of Rochester Medical Center
Alicia Healey
Graduate Student
PhD Candidate, Lawrence Lab, University of Rochester Medical Center
Hen Prizant
Postdoctoral Associate
Scientist, Oncology Biomarker Development, Genentech
Valeria Alberti
Laboratory Technician
Laboratory Technician, University of Rochester Medical Center
Angie Hughson
Lab Manager
Laboratory Technician and Lab Manager, Gerber Lab, University of Rochester Medical Center
Jonathan Pinney
Graduate Student
Postdoctoral Fellow, Ravichandran Lab, University of Virginia
Seble Negatu
PREP Student
PhD Student, Jurado Lab, University of Pennsylvania
Ninoshka Fernandes
Graduate Student
Postdoctoral Fellow, AbbVie
Dillon Schrock
Graduate Student
Postdoctoral Fellow, Cell and Developmental Biology Center, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Katherine Herman
Graduate Student
Resident, Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital
Alison Gaylo
Graduate Student
Resident, Dermatology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Alison Billroth-MacLurg
Postdoctoral Associate
Account Manager, STEMCELL Technologies
Milan Popovic
Postdoctoral Fellow
Senior Scientist, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences
Jill W. Ford
Postdoctoral Fellow
Sade Fridy
PREP Student
Data & Technology Strategist, The Movement Cooperative
Michael G. Overstreet
Postdoctoral Fellow
Scientist, AstraZeneca
Yu-Hui Huang
Graduate Student
Kymab
Dorothy Sojka
Postdoctoral Fellow
Assistant Professor, Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago
Chris Lazarski
Postdoctoral Fellow
Staff Scientist, Flow Core, Children's National Medical Center
Vanessa Morales-Tirado
Graduate Student
Principal Research Scientist, AbbVie
Shoshana Katzman
Graduate Student
Associate Professor of Biology, Georgia Gwinnett College
Byron AuYeung
Graduate Student
Assistant Professor, School of Medicine, Emory University
Teresa Sukiennicki
Postdoctoral Fellow
Associate Professor of Biology, SUNY Genesee Community College