Katie Lee

Katie is a graduate of the undergraduate Immunology and Medical Microbiology program at WVU Health Sciences, and recently earned her PhD in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis. As a postdoctoral researcher, she is continuing to pursue projects related to her graduate research in mRNA vaccine development in Dr. Heath Damron's lab at the WVU Vaccine Development Center. Katie's interests in translational research and developing novel drugs for human use led her to pursue the establishment of she and Damron's biotechnology startup, Montani Biotechnologies (Montani Bio), which strives to advance the applications of mRNA vaccine technology to solve problems in treating infectious diseases and cancer. Katie's a "graduate" of the first Vantage Ventures Startup Accelerator program, and has also participated in the Interior Northeast Hub's NSF I-Corps program for STEM innovators. As a fellow with the Office of Innovation and Commercialization she's looking forward to growing her understanding of technology transfer, invention disclosures, and the patent process.