Rachael P. Jackman, Ph.D.
Associate Investigator, Immunology
Profile
Rachael Jackman is an Associate Investigator, Immunology, working in the field of transfusion immunology. Dr. Jackman did her undergraduate work at the University of California, Berkeley in molecular and cell biology, and her Ph.D. at Yale University in immunobiology with Dr. Kim Bottomly, focusing on the role of costimulatory and inhibitory molecules in regulating interactions between T-helper cells and antigen presenting cells. She did her postdoctoral training at VRI (then Blood Systems Research Institute) in transfusion immunology focusing on the immunomodulatory effects of transfusion and trauma, including alloimmunization.
- Associate Investigator, Vitalant Research Institute, San Francisco CA
- Adjunct Associate Professor, UCSF Department of Laboratory Medicine, San Francisco CA
- B.S., Molecular and Cell Biology, Emphasis in Immunology, University of California, Berkeley
- M.S., Immunobiology, Yale University
- Ph.D., Immunobiology, Yale University
- Post Doctoral Associate, Immunobiology, Yale University
- Post Doctoral Research Fellow, BSRI/University of California, San Francisco
- Staff Scientist, BSRI
Johnson Tran, PhD
Staff Scientist I, Adjunct Professor, UCSF Department of Laboratory Medicine
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- Associate Investigator, Vitalant Research Institute, San Francisco, CA
- B.S., Molecular and Cell Biology, Emphasis in Immunology, University of California, Berkeley
- M.S., Immunobiology, Yale University
- Ph.D., Immunobiology, Yale University
- Post Doctoral Associate, Immunobiology, Yale University
- Post Doctoral Research Fellow, BSRI/University of California, San Francisco
- Staff Scientist, BSRI
Research Interests
Our long-term research goals are to improve our understanding of the wide range of immune consequences to allogeneic exposure and to identify methods to modulate these responses to protect against alloimmunization and rejection. Through the use of our novel transfusion models alongside clinical samples from a range of alloexposure patients, our goal is to identify the mechanisms involved in regulating the alloresponse, evaluate protective approaches, and determine how these responses may vary in different types of patients.
Exposure to alloantigens as a result of transfusion, transplant, or pregnancy can result in an immune response to these foreign antigens. This alloimmunization can cause harm, limiting the ability of the recipient to tolerate future transfusions or other transplants of solid organs or stem cells. Our work is focused on the response to allogeneic MHC, how this response is regulated, consequences for alloimmunized individuals, and how alloimmunization can be prevented and/or manipulated to induce tolerance.
Both transfusion and traumatic injury have been shown to have strong effects on the immune system. Trauma patients have been shown to be either immunosuppressed or hyperactivated, making them vulnerable to serious immune sequelae such as sepsis and multiorgan failure. Transfusion has been shown to be either immunosuppressive or activating in different settings. Our goals are to characterize the impact of transfusion, blood loss, and injury on immune dysregulation and to understand what drives it.