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Tajie H. Harris, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and Director of the Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG). She earned a B.S. in Biology from Bemidji State University in 2002 and a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2007. From 2007 to 2013, she conducted postdoctoral research in immunoparasitology at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Harris’s research focuses on the immune response to infectious disease in the central nervous system, with particular emphasis on Toxoplasma gondii infection in the brain. Her laboratory employs advanced imaging techniques, including multiphoton microscopy, to visualize immune cell behavior in real time and understand how factors such as regulatory T cells, microglia, and caspase-8-mediated cell death contribute to pathogen control while preserving neural function. In 2024, she was awarded a five-year $2.6 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for the project “Caspase-8 mediated control of CNS infection.” That same year, she was appointed a Shannon Center Mid-Career Fellow. Dr. Harris collaborates with colleagues across the Center for Brain Immunology and Glia to advance understanding of neuroimmunology and the interplay between the nervous and immune systems.
University of Virginia researchers uncover how caspase-8 in CD8 T cells acts as a kill switch against Toxoplasma gondii, the brain parasite infecting 40 million Americans. Implications for toxoplasmosis treatment and neuroscience careers.
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