Bridget Ratitong joined the lab as a graduate student in 2018 through the CMB gateway program. She obtained her BS in Molecular Biology at UC San Diego in 2015, and worked as a research technician at the La Jolla Institute prior to coming to UCI. She is currently a fifth year graduate student.
In the Pearlman lab, Bridget studies the role of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1a and IL-1b and the innate immune response during early-stage bacterial or fungal infections in the corneas. In our recent publication in Cell Reports, Bridget showed that while IL-1a regulation and secretion by macrophages and dendritic cells is similar to IL-1b–mediated by the NLRP3 inflammasome and GSDMD, IL-1a secretion by neutrophils is independent of NLRP3 , GSDMD, and cell death. Instead, neutrophils mediate IL-1a release through extracellular vesicles.
Bridget has earned 3 AAI Young Investigator Awards for her oral and poster presentations, the Immunology T32 training grant (2019-2020), and the NIH F31 fellowship (2021-present) during her time in the Pearlman lab thus far. She is also an ARC foundation scholar for 2020-2022.
In her free time, Bridget’s hobbies include: houseplants, volleyball, bouldering, and traveling.
Contact: bratiton@uci.edu