Shanelle Reilly, PhD

Postdoctoral fellow

 

About Me

I first became interested in molecular biology research during my undergraduate years at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Under the mentorship of Dr. Natalie Farny, I researched virulence factors associated with the bacteria that cause Lyme disease infection, and my interest in immunology was born. Following my BSc in Biology/Biotechnology in 2018, I pursued graduate studies in the Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry Graduate Program at Brown University and joined the laboratory of Dr. Laurent Brossay.

My doctoral work focused on how "unconventional" T cells, a subset of immune cells that recognize antigens and are stimulated differently than typical T cells, function during long-term viral infection. I found that some of these cells carry molecular markers usually associated with an exhausted, dysfunctional state, yet they remained fully capable of killing infected cells. That surprising finding shaped the question driving my postdoctoral work: what allows a T cell to express high levels of inhibitory receptors yet remain cytotoxic?

Now in the Huang laboratory, I'm using cell lineage tracing, a technique that allows us to barcode individual immune cells and all their descendants over time, to study unconventional T cells inside colorectal tumors. By connecting each cell's T cell receptor identity and these barcodes to the job it ultimately takes on in the tumor, I hope to uncover what protects these cells from losing function, the way so many immune cells do inside tumors. The long-term goal is to use these insights to help design more durable, "off-the-shelf" cell therapies that can keep working even in the hostile environment of a tumor.

Outside the lab, I enjoy traveling, running, skiing, hiking, and homemade ice cream. But my absolute favorite days are the ones spent with my kids, GiGi and Landon.

 

Publications

S.P. Reilly, M.L. Smith, S.M. Borys, C. Fugère, D. Demers, M.J. Hogan, D. Zemmour, and L. Brossay: Unconventional CD8⁺T cell surveillance of cytomegalovirus via Qa-1/HLA-E-restricted epitope recognition. Science Advances. Vol. 11,51 (2025).

Callahan, A. Mojumdar, M. Hu, A. Wang, A.A. Griffith, N. Huang, X. Yu Chua, N. Mroz, R.Z. Puterbaugh, S.P. Reilly, and A. Salomon: The phosphatases TCPTP, PTPN22, and SHP1 play unique roles in T cell phosphotyrosine maintenance and feedback regulation of the TCR. Scientific Reports. Vol. 15,1 27747 (2025).

J.A. Myers, S.P. Reilly, and L. Brossay: Tissue-resident NK cells do their own glandscaping. The Journal of Experimental Medicine. Vol. 222,3 (2025).

S.M. Borys, S.P. Reilly, I. Magill D. Zemmour, L. Brossay: NK cells restrain cytotoxic CD8⁺ T cells in the submandibular gland via PD-1-PD-L1. Science Immunology. Vol. 9,102 (2024).

M.J. Hogan, N. Maheshwari, B.E. Begg, A. Nicastri, E.J. Hedgepeth, H. Muramatsu, N. Pardi, M.A. Miller, S.P. Reilly, L. Brossay, K.W. Lynch, N. Ternette, and L.C. Eisenlohr: Cryptic MHC-E epitope from influenza elicits a potent cytolytic T cell response.” Nature Immunology. Vol. 24,11 (2023).

C.K. Anderson, S.P. Reilly, and L. Brossay: The invariant NKT cell response has differential signaling requirements during antigen-dependent and antigen-independent activation. Journal of immunology. Vol. 206,1 (2021).