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Heather Pua, MD PhD
Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Pathology, Microbiology and ImmunologyMCNRoom / SuiteB3310AHeather earned her BS in Biology and her MD PhD in Immunology from Duke University, where she identified a role for autophagy in naive T cell survival. She then moved to the West Coast, completing residency in Anatomic Pathology, clinical fellowship in Molecular Genetic Pathology, and post doctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. During her postdoc in the laboratory of Mark Ansel, she studied the role of miRNAs in allergic inflammation in the lung. Clinically at UCSF, she helped to implement whole exome sequencing for the diagnosis of genetic disease in pediatric populations. Heather is thrilled to be back in the Southeast starting her own lab! When she is not busy having fun doing science, she usually is chasing after her two energetic daughters or exploring her new home of Nashville.
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Neil is graduate student in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology. He completed his BS at West Virginia University in 2015, where he double majored in Biochemistry and Animal and Nutritional Sciences. He also completed his MS in Biomedical Science at West Virginia University in 2017. Neil joined the Pua Lab in 2018, and his research project focuses on how the miR-23-27-24 clusters regulate macrophage function.
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Katy is a graduate student in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology. She earned her BS in Biology at the University of California, Los Angeles in 2017 and her MS in Human Genetics at the University of Michigan in 2018. Katy joined the Pua lab in 2019, and her research project focuses on the role of extracellular vesicles from immune cells in lung inflammation. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, exploring Tennessee, and hanging out with her cat.
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Grant is a graduate student in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology. He completed his BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Centre College in 2016. Grant joined the Pua Lab in 2020, and his research project focuses on the role of extracellular miRNAs in allergic inflammation. In his free time in enjoys walking his dog, finding new restaurants in Nashville, and playing board games.
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Deborah is an undergraduate student at Vanderbilt currently studying Computer Science with a minor in Chemistry. She joined the Pua Lab in the fall of 2019, and her research focuses on computational work analyzing CNOT6 Targets in CD4+ Effector T Cells and IsomiR in extracellular RNA using RNAseq data. When not in the lab, she enjoys baking or cooking for friends, playing ultimate frisbee, and bouldering!
Past Lab Members
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Grace was an undergraduate at Vanderbilt who studied Human and Organizational Development with a minor in Biology. She was a member of the Pua lab from 2018-2019, where she studied the expression and function of Ccr4-Not complex subunits in Th1 and Th2 cells. She is now a medical student at Washington University in St. Louis.
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Carleigh earned her B.S. in Human Biology at Bastyr University in 2016. She was the first member of the Pua lab, and she was part of the team from 2017-2020. She worked primarily on extracellular RNAs and extracellular vesicles, but helped to keep everything in the lab running smoothly. We were sorry to see her go when her husband in the Army was restationed, but we wish her all the best back home in Washington!