Duke University
Durham, North Carolina, United States
Katayoun (Kathy) Ayasoufi, Ph. D, is an assistant professor in the Duke Department of Neurosurgery.
Kathy is a classically trained immunologist who studies the neuroimmune connection in GBM as well as other neurological diseases. She attended Case Western Reserve University for undergraduate training. She then joined the Molecular Medicine PhD program and completed her doctoral training in the field of transplant immunology at Cleveland Clinic. She then moved to the Mayo Clinic for her post-doctoral training. As a post-doc, Kathy’s research was focused on determining facets of systemic immunosuppression following glioblastoma progression and during other brain injuries. Glioblastoma is a deadly brain tumor with poor prognosis. GBM is also associated with severe immunosuppression both inside the brain and outside of the brain. This immunosuppression is extremely detrimental to patient survival and is a critical barrier to success of immune-modulating therapies. We have previously recapitulated key facets of immunosuppression observed in GBM patients including peripheral lymphopenia in our mouse models of experimental GBM. Recapitulating what happens to patient immune system exactly in our mice makes our model clinically relevant and our studies of immunosuppression directly translational to GBM patients. In the lab, we use various techniques including high parameter flow cytometry to investigate the role of the neuroimmune axis in disrupting immune system’s function following acute and chronic neurological insults including viral encephatilits and glioblastoma. Kathy is a basic science researcher whose program is focused on unraveling mechanisms of brain-injury and glioma-induced immunosuppression systemically. In the lab, Kathy and her team are currently investigating soluble mediators of immune dysfunction in mouse models of GBM. Her lab is also working on translational studies regarding GBM-induced peripheral immunosuppression. Kathy’s work is currently funded through an NINDS K99/R00 grant.