Over the past 10 years I immersed myself in the study of the immune system and its function. The majority of my research is focused on the auto-immune disease Type 1 Diabetes (T1D).  Throughout my research career my investigations centered on understanding the entire immune system, including both the adaptive and innate immune systems. During my graduate education, I was trained as a Medicinal Chemist wherein my research applications utilized transgenic murine models of disease to study T1D.  During my post-doctoral work I shifted gears becoming well trained in molecular biology and molecular cloning.  As a research fellow and research investigator, my work transitioned from animal models of disease to human clinical applications utilizing human blood serum sampling to predict T1D. During this time I helped discover a new candidate biomarker within the extracellular domain of the tyrosine phosphatase-like protein (IA-2), which leads to rapid acceleration of T1D onset compared to conventional IA-2 biomarkers of T1D. Currently, I am appointed as a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Toledo working in an effort to understand the mechanisms underlying neointimal hyperplasia in a rat model system. I am highly motivated and am constantly seeking to collaborate with new researchers to further my knowledge in all aspects science. The immune system is an every changing environment, though well understood it still remains a mystery. My interests seek to define new mechanisms into how the immune system functions to help bridge the gap between murine models and human disease so that potential therapeutic applications can be designed and carried out in regard to any disease model.