Emma Winkler

Biography:

Emma received her B.S. in Biochemistry and her B.A. in Microbiology from Indiana University in Bloomington. After graduation, Emma joined the Medical Scientist Training Program at Washington University in St. Louis where she became part of the Immunology program in the Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences for her graduate studies.

Emma has worked in the laboratory of Dr. Michael Diamond since 2017. Her thesis work has focused on understanding how the intestinal microbiome modulates systemic immune responses to virus infection, specifically mosquito-born alphaviruses such as Chikungunya virus. She was able to show that specific microbiome-derived metabolites such as secondary bile acids support type I interferon responses needed to restrict systemic alphavirus infection. More recently, Emma has been working to evaluate monoclonal antibody therapies against severe acute coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in mouse models of SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis.

Throughout her PhD Emma has mentored others in her lab and was part of the YSP Continuing Mentoring Program during her first two years of medical school.