PhD Candidate in Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine

Natalie is a Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. student co-advised by Dr. Mao and Dr. Schneck in Department of Pathology.  She received her B.S. in Bioengineering from University of Maryland, College Park, in 2018.  Natalie is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and a recipient of the NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service (F31) Award.  Her thesis research focuses on developing lymph node-mimicking hydrogels to better stimulate antigen-specific T cells for cancer immunotherapy, aiming to bring the power of immunotherapy to more patients by improving the potency, increasing accessibility, reducing time-to-treatment, and lowering the treatment costs of T cell-based therapies.  Outside of the lab, she enjoys hiking, reading, and watching classic movies

Select Publications

• Isser, A*, Livingston, NK*, Schneck, JP (2021). Biomaterials to enhance antigen-specific T cell expansion for cancer immunotherapy. Biomaterials, 268, 120584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120584. (*Denotes equal authorship)
• Est-Witte, SE*, Livingston, NK*, Omotoso, MO*, Green, JJ, Schneck, JP (2021). Nanoparticles for generating antigen-specific T cells for immunotherapy. Seminars in Immunology, 56, 101541. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.SMIM.2021.101541. (*Denotes equal authorship)
• Chaisawangwong, W, Wang, H, Kouo, T, Salathe, SF, Isser, A, Bieler, JG, Zhang, ML, Livingston, NK, Li, S, Horowitz, JJ, Samet, RE, Zyskind, I, Rosenberg, AZ, Schneck, JP (2022). Cross-reactivity of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A specific T cells in individuals exposed to SARS-CoV-2. JCI Insight, 7(18). https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI.INSIGHT.158308
• Rhodes, KR, Isser, A, Hickey, JW, Ben-Akiva, E, Meyer, RA, Kosmides, AK, Livingston, N, Tzeng, SY, Schneck, JP, Green, JJ (2021). Biodegradable Cationic Polymer Blends for Fabrication of Enhanced Artificial Antigen Presenting Cells to Treat Melanoma. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 13, 7923. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c19955