Colleen Winstead

Colleen Winstead has had a long and successful career in the field of immunology. Colleen began their career in 1998 as a Graduate/Teaching Assistant at Miami University, where they prepared and defended a written research proposition and conducted research leading to the preparation, submission, and oral defense of a M.S. In 2000, they joined Eli Lilly and Company as an Immunotoxicologist, designing, validating, conducting, and documenting analytical methods for determination of immune responses to xenobiotics and recombinant protein therapeutics. In 2004, they began a Predoctoral Fellowship and Graduate Assistant position at the University of Minnesota, where they prepared and defended a written research proposition in an oral examination and conducted research leading to the preparation, submission, and oral defense of a Ph.D. In 2009, they moved to the University of Alabama at Birmingham as a Postdoctoral Trainee, where they studied the influence of IL-2 and IL-21 on CD4 T cell differentiation and fate/memory using in vivo and in vitro assays and cytokine reporter mouse models. In 2015, they joined Merck as an Associate Principal Scientist, managing and coordinating scientific programs to support the discovery, development, and optimization of biologics, infectious disease vaccine, and cancer vaccine products. In 2020, they were hired as a Senior Scientist II at Genocea Biosciences. Finally, in 2021, they joined Immunocore as a Principal Scientist, where they were responsible for generating co-culture systems and organoid cultures, together with appropriate pathogen-specific read-outs, to evaluate on-target activity of ImmTAX molecules. In 2022, they were appointed as the Director of Immunology at Epitopea.

Colleen Winstead began their educational journey at Marquette University, where they earned a B.S. in Biology in 1997. Colleen then attended Miami University, where they earned an MS in Zoology in 2001. In 2003, they attended Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis as a Graduate Non-Degree student, studying Biology/Biological Sciences, General. Finally, they attended University of Minnesota Medical School, where they earned a PhD in Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology in 2009.