Birk Evavold

Program: Immunology

Current advisor: Ali H. Ellebedy, PhD

Undergraduate university: Emory University, 2019

Enrollment year: 2020

Research summary
Regulation of the germinal center reaction.

My research primarily focuses on feedback mechanisms regulating germinal center longevity and quality as B cell clones undergo successive rounds of affinity maturation. I am interested in how this regulation affects the immune response to vaccines.

Graduate publications
Sturtz AJ, Evavold BK, Heidari Rarani Z, Alsoussi WB, Zhou JQ, Matz HC, Muramatsu H, Simkins W, Kumar Malladi S, McIntire KM, Das J, Turner JS, Pardi N, Ellebedy AH. 2026 BPTF is essential for vaccine-induced germinal center B cell responses. J Immunol, 215(6):vkag126. PMCID: PMC13282703

Evavold B, McIntire K, Zhou J, Alsoussi W, Schmitz A, Sturtz A, Muramatsu H, Han F, Kim S, Perez J, Turner J, Pardi N, Ellebedy AH. 2026 IgG1 antibodies regulate the germinal center B cell response to vaccination via Fc receptor interactions. , ():

Evavold B, McIntire K, Zhou J, Alsoussi W, Schmitz A, Sturtz A, Muramatsu H, Han F, Kim S, Perez J, Turner J, Pardi N, Ellebedy AH. 2026 IgG1 antibodies regulate the germinal center B cell response to vaccination via Fc receptor interactions. , ():

Alsoussi WB, Malladi SK, Zhou JQ, Liu Z, Ying B, Kim W, Schmitz AJ, Lei T, Horvath SC, Sturtz AJ, McIntire KM, Evavold B, Han F, Scheaffer SM, Fox IF, Mirza SF, Parra-Rodriguez L, Nachbagauer R, Nestorova B, Chalkias S, Farnsworth CW, Klebert MK, Pusic I, Strnad BS, Middleton WD, Teefey SA, Whelan SPJ, Diamond MS, Paris R, O’Halloran JA, Presti RM, Turner JS, Ellebedy AH. 2023 SARS-CoV-2 Omicron boosting induces de novo B cell response in humans. Nature, 617(7961):592-598. PMCID: