I am an Assistant Professor in the UAB Department of Medicine’s Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, and have held that rank since 2018. I obtained my Master’s in Biochemistry in Eqypt where I focused on identifying polymorphisms in the methylenetetahydropholate reductase gene (MTHFR) in mothers of children with Down’s syndrome. I was recruited to UAB where I joined the laboratory of Dr. Harry W. Schroeder, Jr. While in his laboratory, first as a PhD student and then as a postdoctoral fellow, I gained extensive expertise in immunology (specifically B cell biology), learned numerous contemporary laboratory techniques, and gained critical thinking skills. In the course of my studies of the role of the surrogate light chain in B cell repertoire selection (which was published in the inaugural edition of Science Immunology), I observed that absence of the surrogate light chain led to bone fragility. This seminal observation led me to my current interest in bone biology and the interplay between early B cell progenitors and skeletal homeostasis. I am the first to show that the immunoglobulin lambda-like polypeptide 1 (i.e. the λ5 protein encoded by the IGLL1 gene), heretofore thought to be an early B cell specific protein, is also expressed in mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs). This discovery connects skeletal development with early B lymphocyte development and opens the gate for new research with the potential to develop new tools for treating Rheumatologic bone diseases.
