{"id":127309,"date":"2022-03-28T18:22:02","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T22:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=127309"},"modified":"2022-03-28T18:22:02","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T22:22:02","slug":"student-research-week-how-a-special-bacteria-and-vitamin-d-impact-immunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/student-research-week-how-a-special-bacteria-and-vitamin-d-impact-immunity\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Research Week: How a Special Bacteria and Vitamin D Impact Immunity"},"content":{"rendered":"

While growing up Joseph Vaccaro \u201921MS<\/strong> was told that the mind is a beautiful thing that should be used to improve the world.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that parental mantra that helped him discover his path from Montrose, Pennsylvania, to College of Medicine Professor Saleh Naser\u2019s laboratory at UCF. Naser studies the association of Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis<\/em>(MAP) with Crohn\u2019s disease and Type I diabetes. Vaccaro is conducting research in his lab as part of his doctoral work in biomedical sciences<\/a>. He will be presenting part of his investigation during the Student Scholar Symposium this week. The symposium is part of  Student Research Week<\/a>, which is free, open to the public and ongoing in the Student Union this week.<\/p>\n

The graduate student\u2019s ultimate goal is to become a vaccine designer at a biotechnology company or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He wouldn\u2019t be the first Knight to do it. Darin Edwards ’97 ’10MS ’11PhD<\/strong> was part of the team that created Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine<\/a>. Vaccaro wants to do his part, too.<\/p>\n