Ninaad Lasrado, Ph.D.

Dr. Lasrado is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Barouch Laboratory. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology from St. Aloysius College, India in 2018. At St. Aloysius, he worked on elucidating the phytochemical and anti-cancer effects of Imperata cylindrica in the laboratory of Dr. Leo D’Souza. He joined the Integrative Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and conducted his graduate research in the laboratory of Dr. Jay Reddy. His doctoral research focused on using single-cell RNA sequencing to dissect the cellular landscape and transcriptome networks of Coxsackievirus B (CVB) 3-induced viral myocarditis and developing novel vaccines against them. His graduate research led to the development of the first live-attenuated CVB vaccine that provided protection against myocarditis and type- diabetes induced by multiple CVB serotypes. Dr. Lasrado was a recipient of several graduate fellowships, including the American Association of Immunologists Trainee award, the Susan Ann Smith Memorial Fellowship, and the UNL departmental Widaman Distinguished Graduate Fellowship. Ninaad joined the Barouch Lab in July 2022 and studies the immunological mechanisms of mRNA vaccines and developing next-generation mRNA vaccines against infectious diseases. He is an active advocate for inclusion and better representation of POC in STEM. Ninaad is a trained martial artist, and in his free time, he enjoys running, paints portraits which he promotes on his IG, and thinks about getting a dog but doesn’t act on it. He also plans to learn Portuguese and not bring shame to his ancestors!