By DoM Communications | Date published: April 29, 2026
Jafira Johnson and Romana Rashid Awarded RISE Training Awards
The Program in Innate Immunity is proud to announce the winners of the RISE: The Robert W. Finberg, MD, Memorial Research Training Awards.
The most highly rated application by a graduate student was entitled, Tonic Production of IFN-Kappa by Human Keratinocytes Protects Against Diverse Cutaneous Virus Infections, submitted by Jafira Johnson, from the laboratory of Dr. Megan Orzalli. Jafira demonstrated that IFNk confers antiviral protection against a diverse set of viruses (SINV, VEEV, HSV-1, VSV) in keratinocytes. This control of viral infection occurs through a non-canonical IFNAR1-dependent pathway that diverges from the classical JAKSTAT pathway downstream of IFNAR activation.
The most highly rated application by a post-doctoral fellow was awarded to Romana Rashid, PhD, from the labs of Drs. Kate Fitzgerald and Douglas Golenbock for her project titled, Cellular Nucleic Acid-Binding Protein (CNBP) Drives IL12-IFNg-Mediated Immunity During Plasmodium Infection. In malaria, effective control of infection requires the tight regulation of the IL-12/IFNg axis. Dr. Rashid demonstrated that CNBP, a zinc-finger transcriptional co-regulator, functions as a molecular node linking parasite-derived stimuli to cytokine programming. Transcriptional profiling revealed upregulation of innate effector programs in CNBP knockout mice. CNBP loss uncoupled splenic hypertrophy from inflammatory responses, leading to diminished CD4+ and expanded CD8+ T cell populations, reflecting disruption of Th1 responses and activation of compensatory innate effector pathways.
It should be noted that all competing applications for the Finberg Memorial Award were outstanding, and selecting the winners was exceptionally difficult.
The winners of this award will be invited to present their research orally at the Department of Medicine seminar series. Additionally, they will each be awarded a cash prize ($1,000 to the award-winning postdoc and $750 to the award-winning student).
Congratulations to Jafira and Dr. Rashid!