Flu

Biography

Tara M. Strutt received her PhD from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Saskatchewan. Her studies focused on the signals required to activate CD4 T cells during immune responses. Dr. Strutt continued to study CD4 T cells during her postdoctoral studies at the Trudeau Institute in the laboratory of Dr. Susan L. Swain. While at the Trudeau Institute, Dr. Strutt uncovered novel protective functions mediated by memory T cells during influenza virus infection and that different protective functions are mediated by memory cells in different organs. In 2010, Dr. Strutt relocated to the University of Massachustts Medical School as an Instructor faculty member of the Department of Pathology. Her research focus centered on understanding how the tissue environment dictates T cell function, and on defining how the adaptive immune system can control innate inflammatory responses. In 2015, she started her own independent research laboratory within the Immunity and Pathogenesis Division of the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Medicine at the University of Central Florida where she is continuing to study how adaptive immune responses regulate innate immunity.

Research Interest

My ongoing and future research endeavors are centered on two lines of research, both of which strive to gain further insights into how CD4 T cells function to protect against influenza A virus (IAV).