Lisa Wagar, Ph.D.

Dr. Wagar was recruited in July 2020 from Mark Davis’s lab at Stanford U. Dr. Wagar uses human tonsil organoids to examine T and B cell responses to influenza and vaccine candidates for influenza and for SARS-CoV-2. Her paper describing the organoids and the response to influenza and SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates (Nature Medicine 2021 – Modeling human adaptive immune responses in vitro with tonsil organoids). Dr. Wagar hired Jenna Kastenschmidt as a post-doctoral fellow in 2020, who was a T32 awardee and who graduated from the Villalta lab in June, 2020. Dr. Wagar has two current graduate students, one of whom (Zachary Wagoner) is eligible for a Training Grant position. She also has a Gates Foundation award on development of an influenza vaccine, and has submitted an R21 and a P01 with Dr. Felgner on future vaccine development for coronaviruses.