Justine-Liepkalns
Justine Liepkalns
Associate Teaching Professor
406-B HCK
(206) 221-8434
Not accepting graduate students
Fields of interest
My research interests currently lie in Immunology Education, specifically on how topics in immunology are understood. I work on developing tools for immunology educators to better cater to their audience and to make immunology (and the biology of vaccines) more student-centered and accessible to learners of all levels.
Check out the preliminary edition of my book "The Biology of Vaccines". First edition should be available by September 2022.
Born in France, I was raised in a bilingual household and moved to the states in my teens. My alma matters include Eckerd College in Florida, Tufts University in Massachusetts and Emory University in Atlanta GA. My Ph.D. thesis research was based on incompatible transfusions of red blood cells and have yielded more questions than answers! I later joined the Immunization and Respiratory Diseases branch of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to study the immune responses to Influenza and the efficacy of vaccines in individuals with preexisting conditions. In light of my interest for teaching, learning and research, I became an NIH IRACDA fellow which funded my post doctoral training in Influenza research and teaching training at a local HBCU (Clark Atlanta).
I consider myself an educator and an immunologist with a specialty in virology and red blood cell immunology. I have taught classes since 2008 and aim to form communities within my classrooms. Outreach opportunities and igniting projects are always of interest. As an example, two Freshmen students used crowd sourcing to designed a detection method to help screenings during the 2014 Ebola outbreak and submitted an application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Think of ways you could start a new project, professors are here to help!
RIG-I ligand enhances the immunogenicity of recombinant H7HA protein.,
W, Cao*, JS Liepkalns*, RP Kamal, AJ Reber, JH Kim, AR Hofstetter, S Amoah, J Stevens, P Ranjan, S Gangappa, et al.
, Cellular Immunology, Volume 304-305, (2016)
A highly immunogenic vaccine against A/H7N9 influenza virus.,
W, Cao*, JS Liepkalns*, AO Hassan, RP Kamal, AR Hofstetter, S Amoah, JH Kim, AJ Reber, J Stevens, JM Katz, et al.
, Vaccine, Volume 34, Issue 6, (2016)
Prior infection with influenza virus but not vaccination leaves a long-term immunological imprint that intensifies the protective efficacy of antigenically drifted vaccine strains.,
JH, Kim, J Liepkalns, AJ Reber, X Lu, N Music, J Jacob, and S Sambhara
, Vaccine, Volume 34, Issue 4, (2016)
Rapamycin Does Not Impede Survival or Induction of Antibody Responses to Primary and Heterosubtypic Influenza Infections in Mice.,
JS, Liepkalns, A Pandey, AR Hofstetter, A Kumar, EN Jones, W Cao, F Liu, MZ Levine, S Sambhara, and S Gangappa
, Viral Immunology, Volume 29, Issue 8, (2016)
Antigen modulation confers protection to red blood cells from antibody through Fcγ receptor ligation.,
S, Stowell*, JS Liepkalns*, JE Hendrickson, KR Girard-Pierce, NH Smith, CM Arthur, JC Zimring, and co-1st-Authors *
, Journal of Immunology , Volume 19, Issue 10, (2013)
Resistance of a subset of red blood cells to clearance by antibodies in a mouse model of incompatible transfusion.,
JS, Liepkalns, CM Cadwell, S Stowell, EA Hod, SL Spitalnik, and JC Zimring
, Transfusion, Volume 53, Issue 6, (2013)
Biphasic clearance of incompatible red blood cells through a novel mechanism requiring neither complement nor Fcγ receptors in a murine model.,
JS, Liepkalns, EA Hod, S Stowell, CM Cadwell, SL Spitalnik, and JC Zimring
, Transfusion, Volume 52, Issue 12, (2012)
Cytokine Storm in a Mouse Model of IgG-mediated Hemolytic Transfusion Reactions,
Hod, E., Cadwell C., Liepkalns J., Zimring J., SA Sokol, DA Schirmer, J Jhang, and SL Spitalnik
, Blood, Volume 112, Issue 3, (2008)