Congratulations to our new PhD, Marguerite Bree Little!

Dr. Little successfully defended her thesis, “Determination of cross-species immune responses from outer membrane vesicle-based meningococcal vaccines to Neisseria gonorrhoeae,” under the guidance of Alex Duncan, MD, PhD, on October 17.

Publications

Commensal Neisseria species share immune suppressive mechanisms with Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Zhu W, Cardenas-Alvarez MX, Tomberg J, Little MB, Duncan JA, Nicholas RA.PLoS One. 2023 Apr 7;18(4):e0284062. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0284062. eCollection 2023.PMID: 37027389 Free PMC article.

The serogroup B meningococcal outer membrane vesicle-based vaccine 4CMenB induces cross-species protection against Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Leduc I, Connolly KL, Begum A, Underwood K, Darnell S, Shafer WM, Balthazar JT, Macintyre AN, Sempowski GD, Duncan JA, Little MB, Rahman N, Garges EC, Jerse AE.PLoS Pathog. 2020 Dec 8;16(12):e1008602. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008602. eCollection 2020 Dec.PMID: 33290434 Free PMC article.

Below are pics from Dr. Little’s thesis defense and PHCO white coat ceremony.

Dr. Marguerite Little at her thesis defense

Dr. Marguerite Little at her thesis defense

Dr. Little received the custom embroidered lab coat from Dr. Dohlman as part of the UNC PHCO tradition following her successful defense

Dr. Little received the custom embroidered lab coat from Dr. Dohlman as part of the UNC PHCO tradition following her successful defense

We wish you all the best, Bree!