Michael Mazzucco Awarded NRSA F30 Fellowship

Tri-I student Michael Mazzucco was recently awarded an NIH National Research Service Award (NRSA) F30 Fellowship from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The NRSA F30 Fellowship supports the research and clinical training of promising predoctoral students in a combined MD/PhD or other dual doctoral degree training programs that aspire to become clinician-scientists. 

 

Michael's F30 will support his research in the labs of his co-sponsors, Drs. Dana Orange and Robert Darnell, at The Rockefeller University, where he is in his third year of the PhD phase of the program. His project is titled "Circadian Regulation of Neutrophil-Driven Morning Stiffness in Rheumatoid Arthritis." Michael explains, "Morning stiffness in rheumatoid arthritis is a clinical clue that inflammation may not be constant throughout the day. My research asks whether time-of-day changes in the immune system, particularly in neutrophils, contribute to why patients often feel worst in the morning. Since rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic autoimmune disease, blood offers a unique window into immune activity across the body and can be sampled repeatedly over time, unlike inflamed joints. Understanding these daily immune rhythms may help explain morning stiffness and provide broader insight into how biological timing shapes autoimmune and inflammatory disease."