Zuri Sullivan

LIGHTING THE FIRE: ZURI SULLIVAN’S PATH FROM INSPIRATION TO IMPACT

The immune system harbors a host of mysteries. and its relationship with the brain is murkier still.

Zuri Sullivan is studying this complex topic and has turned her research into a blooming scientific career.

She’s a postdoc working in the lab of Catherine Dulac at the the Tan-Yang Center for Autism Research at Harvard University, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Hanna H. Gray Fellow investigator studying the social brain. Sullivan is exploring how the brain and myriad immune responses influence behavior, particularly during infection.

For example, why might someone want to wear their cozy socks only while congested from a sinus infection? “The most exciting thing we’ve found is that different kinds of infections generate different impacts on behavior,” she says.

Sullivan has been interested in studying the human immune system ever since attending an HHMI conference while in high school. There, she was fascinated by a talk given by Bruce Walker, an HHMI investigator, director of the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT. and Harvard University, and a professor at Harvard Medical School.

“And I was mind-blown1 I’m becoming a scientist.” she exclaims, recalling how she felt after listening to Walker’s talk about how immunology could help scientists better understand HIV and develop better vaccines. “The people in my high school were not that interested in learning in that context.” Sullivan explains. “But I was very interested.”

This experience ignited Sullivan’s passion for studying the immune system and now its interplay with the brain, which she has been rigorously probing for the past four years in Dulac’s lab.

“These little outreach moments make a difference1 If I hadn’t gone to that talk, I probably would’ve gone to medical school – which would’ve been great. but it wouldn’t have lit me up the same way,” she says.
And she’s now paying it forward. Two of her undergraduate mentees presented their work this spring at conferences and meetings. With Sullivan’s upcoming transition to heading her own lab at the Whitehead Institute next year, she’s keyed up to nurture the next generation of scientists.

“I really like getting to work with younger, budding scientists,” she says. “Even though I still think of myself as a young scientist.”