Keywords: NK cells, KIR, MHC-I, Peptide, Flow Cytometry, viral infection, Innate Immunity, Immune monitoring and profiling

Bérénice Mbiribindi, BSc, MSc, PhD

Senior Postdoctoral Researcher Fellow (Stanford University)

Dr. Mbiribindi is a Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Stanford University – school of Medicine in Prof Sheri Krams’s lab (Transplant Immunology Lab). Her research interests focuses on NK cells and the impact of the major histocompatibility complexes class I (MHC-I) in modulating their functions. Combining in silico and in vitro analysis, she is working on understanding the role of NK cells in the context of Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) latent infection and their involvement in EBV related complications.

Dr. Mbiribindi completed her BSc in Biomedical Sciences from University of Paris Descartes (Paris, France) in 2010 and her MSc in Physiopathology of the Immune Response, University Pierre et Marie Curie (Paris, France) in 2012. Her master thesis aimed to understand the role of BAFF protein in the polarization of T cells into Th17 cells.  She received her PhD in Infection, Inflammation and Immunity from the University of Southampton (United Kingdom) studying Natural killer (NK) cells under the supervision of Prof Salim Kakhoo. She was investigating the impact of MHC-I peptide repertoire changes on NK cells functions. 

She joined Stanford in 2017 to study NK cells biology and their role in EBV latent infection. She received the Transplant and Tissue engineering Center of Excellence leadership group (TTE) Fellowship from 2017 to 2019 and the Stanford Maternal and Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI) Fellowship from 2018-2020. Additionally, she has been awarded travel award to participate to national and international conferences and she awarded The Transplantation Society (TTS) Young Scientific Investigator Award in 2018 for her work. 

In addition to her research, Dr. Mbiribindi mentors students through different programs available at Stanford such as the Stanford Summer Research Program (SSRP), the Stanford Institute for Medical Research (SIMR) Summer Program and the Advanced Immunology program. 

Moving forward in her career, Dr Bérénice Mbiribindi will be joining Genentech (San Francisco) in November 2020 as a Senior Scientific Research in the department of Translational Oncology.