Andrew Konecny
Andrew Konecny, Graduate Student, UW Department of Immunology
Year Joined: 2020
Email: andrewjo@uw.edu
UW Box: 358059
Current Lab: Prlic
Social Media: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-konecny-1142a6b2
Why I chose UW Immunology
I have lived in Seattle for the past four years and worked at one of the program’s affiliate institutes. During this period, I have had the opportunity to meet a majority of the department’s faculty through attending classes concurrent to my work or seminars. The department is a forerunner in translational applications in infectious disease, cancer, allergy, and autoimmunity. In addition, each faculty member appears to be a wonderful mentor and scientific communicator. What I have found unique to the program is the collaborative nature and flow of information across groups and institutes which makes this program extraordinary. It was a very easy decision to join the department this fall 2020 for my graduate studies.
Activities and Interests
Having grown up in Kansas, the Cascade Mountains instead of plains have become my playground where I hike, snowshoe, and rock climb. Wanting to take up some hobbies that are more in solitude this summer, I have begun kayaking the surrounding lakes Union and Washington. On weekends, I visit the yearlong Ballard Farmers Market where you can grab local produce and street food. I also enjoy visiting the museums in the city, of which the Seattle Art Museum is my favorite because of their quarterly Remix where they open their doors for late night performances, live music, crafts, and tours. Finally, I participate in Dungeons and Dragons campaign which has become an excuse to hold weekly zoom hangouts with my friends.
More about me
This year I will be performing my lab rotations, of which my first is with the Dudakov lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. In this position I am excited to learn concepts about thymic regeneration and tissue repair as it pertains to reconstituting the immune system after irradiation, chemotherapy, infection, stress, or age. My background has been in studying autoimmune diseases related to the gastrointestinal tract; including Ulcerative Colitis, Crohn’s Disease, Eosinophilic Esophagitis, and Celiac Disease. Here I have investigated mechanisms behind these diseases, biomarkers to predict response to therapeutics, and cellular interactions between the immune system and these drugs. The majority of this work has been mucosal immunology based, T cell focused, and with a mindset for a translational approach.
