The University of Pittsburgh is proud to announce that Tiffany C. Taylor, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Timothy Hand, associate professor of pediatrics and immunology at the School of Medicine, has been named a 2024 Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Hanna Gray Fellow.
This prestigious award provides up to $1.5 million to support fellows during their postdoctoral phase and early years as independent academic investigators, equipping them to recruit, mentor and inspire the next generation of scientists. Taylor is among 25 early-career scientists to receive that honor this year.
Taylor received a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from SUNY Oneonta and her PhD in microbiology and immunology from Pitt School of Medicine. During her doctoral work, she worked on understanding the immune response to the fungus Candida albicans, which causes oral thrush.
Taylor’s current research focuses on understanding why some people experience mild disease while others develop severe infections from exposure to the same pathogen. She will use novel technologies in a longitudinal study to uncover pathways that mediate interactions between the immune system and pathogens during infection.
This work holds significant promise for improving immune responses, disrupting bacterial adaptation, and developing targeted therapies to tackle chronic bacterial infections, antibiotic resistance, and diseases linked to immune evasion. By identifying molecular pathways that regulate infection outcomes, the insights gained could lead to more effective therapeutics to boost the immune response to bacterial pathogens.
The HHMI Hanna Gray Fellowship recognizes her exceptional potential to advance scientific discovery and establishes her as a future leader in her field, committed to mentoring the next generation of researchers.
“I am deeply honored to be selected as an HHMI Hanna Gray Fellow. This opportunity allows me to further my research career and join a remarkable community of inspiring scientists,” she said.
This work is supported by HHMI through its Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program, which equips fellows to advance their research and leadership skills while becoming future mentors and innovators in the scientific community. For more details about the fellowship and her work, visit HHMI’s website.
Media contact: robertazeff@pitt.edu