Matt Rosenberger
Graduate Student
About Matt
Matt was born and raised outside of Fort Worth, Texas before attending The University of Texas at Austin. There, he developed a passion for immunology and scientific discovery.
After graduation Matt traded in his burnt orange for maroon, exchanging the blistering Texas summers for bitter Midwest winters. He’s transformed into more and more of an urbanite (stroads are a crime on humanity), but enjoys recharging in nature whenever he can.
After detesting swimming, biking, and running as a child, he now enjoys all three of those triathlon disciplines – proving that people really can change.
Education
B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2018
Advisor: Prof George Georgiou
Favorite Quote
“In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.”
-Albert Camus
Scientific Hero
Paul Boyer
Favorite Paper
Krutzik, P. O. & Nolan, G. P. Fluorescent cell barcoding in flow cytometry allows high-throughput drug screening and signaling profiling. Nature Methods 3, 361–368 (2006)
If you could be a piece of lab equipment, what would you be?
"Flow Cytometer"
Matt's Research
Matt enjoys exploring fundamental immunological questions while keeping an eye for clinical translations. His research focuses on improving vaccine adjuvants – components that crudely boost the immune response. Specifically, he seeks to improve tolerability and control of adjuvants, asking the question: “do we need to feel sick in order to achieve vaccine protection?”. His project involves high-throughput screening of thousands of small molecule “immunomodulators” that alter traditional adjuvant properties. Ideally, he’ll find combinations that preserve and improve the beneficial aspects of immune activity while decreasing negative side effects like systemic inflammation.
Lab Publications
Weiss, A. M., Lopez, M. A., Rosenberger, M. G., Kim, J. Y., Shen, J., Chen, Q., … Esser-Kahn, A. P. (2024). Identification of CDK4/6 Inhibitors as Small Molecule NLRP3 Inflammasome Activators that Facilitate IL-1β Secretion and T Cell Adjuvanticity. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 67(17), 14974–14985. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c00516
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Ajit, J., Chen, Q., Ung, T., Rosenberger, M., Kim, J., Solanki, A., … Esser, A. P. (2024). β-glucan induced trained immunity enhances antibody levels in a vaccination model in mice. Preprint at BioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.04.11.588932
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Rosenberger, M. G., Kim, J., & Esser-Kahn, A. (2023). Immunomodulators identified via high-throughput screening enhance control of vaccine adjuvanticity. The Journal of Immunology, 210(1_Supplement), 145.23–145.23. https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.210.supp.145.23
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Esser-Kahn, A. P., Rosenberger, M. G., & Kim, J. (2023). Modulating Innate Immune Responses for Improved Vaccine Tolerability and Durability. The Journal of Immunology, 210(1_Supplement), 223.09–223.09. https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.210.supp.223.09
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Weiss, A. M., Rosenberger, M. G., Kim, J. Y., Lopez, M. A., Rowan, S. J., & Esser-Kahn, A. P. (2023). High Throughput Screening Identifies CDK Inhibitors as Inflammasome-Activating Vaccine Adjuvants. The Journal of Immunology, 210(1_Supplement), 145.24–145.24. https://doi.org/10.4049/jimmunol.210.supp.145.24
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Tang, Y., Kim, J., IP, C. K., Azadeh Bahmani, Chen, Q., Rosenberger, M. G., … Ferguson, A. L. (2023). Data-driven discovery of innate immunomodulators via machine learning-guided high throughput screening. Chemical Science, 14(44). https://doi.org/10.1039/d3sc03613h
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Kim, J. Y., Rosenberger, M. G., Rutledge, N. S., & Esser-Kahn, A. P. (2023). Next-Generation Adjuvants: Applying Engineering Methods to Create and Evaluate Novel Immunological Responses. Pharmaceutics, 15(6), 1687.
https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/15/6/1687
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Kim, J. Y., Rosenberger, M. G., Chen, S., Ip, C. K., Bahmani, A., Chen, Q., ... & Esser-Kahn, A. P. (2023). Discovery of New States of Immunomodulation for Vaccine Adjuvants via High Throughput Screening: Expanding Innate Responses to PRRs. ACS Central Science, 9(3), 427-439. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acscentsci.2c01351
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Moser, B. A.; Steinhardt, R. C.; Escalante-Buendia, Y.; Boltz, D. A.; Barker, K. M.; Cassaidy, B. J.; Rosenberger, M. G.; Yoo, S.; McGonnigal, B. G.; Esser-Kahn, A. P. Increased Vaccine Tolerability and Protection via NF-ΚB Modulation. Science Advances2020, 6(37), eaaz8700. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaz8700.
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Moser, B. A.; Escalante-Buendia, Y.; Steinhardt, R. C.; Rosenberger, M. G.; Cassaidy, B. J.; Naorem, N.; Chon, A. C.; Nguyen, M. H.; Tran, N. T.; Esser-Kahn, A. P. Small Molecule NF-ΚB Inhibitors as Immune Potentiators for Enhancement of Vaccine Adjuvants. Front Immunol 2020, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.511513.​