Sally C. Kent, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine
Dr. Sally Kent is focused on understanding how autoreactive T cells target insulin-producing beta cells in people with type 1 diabetes and how this immune response might be altered to prevent or treat the disease.
She received her BS in biology from Union College in Schenectady, New York, and her PhD in microbiology and immunology from Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood, Illinois.
Dr. Kent completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.
As an immunologist, I want to understand why the immune system attacks and destroys self-tissues. I trained as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. David W. Scott (then at the University of Rochester) and as a postdoctoral fellow and later as an Instructor and then as an Assistant Professor in the laboratory of Dr. David Hafler in the Center for Neurological Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. In this environment, I was fortunate to receive training in human autoimmune disease research, concentrating on the autoreactive T cell response in multiple sclerosis and T1D.
Honors and Awards
2018: Pioneer Award, Network of Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes (nPOD)
2016: Champion of the nPOD Collaborative Spirit Award
2015: Young Investigator Scientific Achievement Award, Rachmiel Levine Diabetes and Obesity Symposium
2015 - present: Co-chair, Immunology of Diabetes Society T Cell Workshop
2014 - present: Group Leader, nPOD Autoimmunity Working Group
2012 - 2016: Task Leader, nPOD Viral Working Group
2011: Department of Medicine Recognition Award, UMass Chan Medical School
2010: Harvard Catalyst InnoCentive Award, Harvard University
2008: Mary Jane Kugel Award, JDRF
Lab Members
-
Anthony Manganaro
Research Associate
Anthony earned his BS in biology from Fitchburg State University and is currently working on his master's degree in microbiology and immunology. Since January 2020 he has worked in the Kent lab on projects aimed at understanding how autoreactive T cells recognize and attack pancreatic beta cells.
-
Ryan Tarpey
PhD Student, Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
Ryan Tarpey is a PhD student interested in autoimmunity. Prior to joining the Kent lab in 2025, he was a Research Associate in the laboratory of Michael Brehm, PhD, where he gained valuable experience working on humanized mouse models and studying the adaptive immune system. Before that, he was a research assistant at the Joslin Diabetes Center in the laboratory of Rohit Kulkarni, PhD. Ryan received his bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in chemistry from Worcester State University.
Alumni
Jenny Aurielle B. Babon, PhD
Dr. Babon was awarded a JDRF postdoctoral fellowship in 2017 to study autoreactive CD8 T cell infiltrates from human T1D islets. She is now a scientific investigator at a pharmaceutical & biotechnology company.
Megan DeNicola
Megan worked as a research associate from 2017-21 and started as a research technician in 2011. She is currently a senior scientist at Twist Bioscience.
Sam Lauffer, MD
Dr. Lauffer joined the lab as an intern in 2017 while he was a medical student. He graduated from T.H. Chan School of Medicine in 2022 and is currently a surgeon in Boston.