Sarah Coffey

Program: Unspecified

Current advisor:

Undergraduate university: Princeton University

Research summary
I conducted immunology research in the Hafler Lab at Yale School of Medicine from September 2020 to June 2022. My research focus was characterizing a novel population of myeloid cells observed in cerebrospinal fluid that exhibits gene expression similar to a neuroprotective microglia subtype that arises in several neurodegenerative diseases. Single-cell RNA-sequencing showed that these CSF myeloid cells are distinct from both blood monocytes and microglia, which are brain-resident macrophages. I hypothesized that these CSF myeloid cells may also have a neuroprotective role and investigated their origin and the molecular drivers of their gene expression profile using an in vitro culture system and flow cytometry, RT-qPCR, and lentiviral-mediated RNA interference.

Graduate publications