Congratulations to Katherine (Katie) Deck, a graduate student in Dr. Mu’s lab, who has been awarded a highly competitive two-year NIH Predoctoral Fellowship grant. Katie’s research project, titled “Kidney-resident memory CD8+ T cells promote hypertension and memorize salt-sensitivity,” seeks to uncover critical mechanisms by which kidney-resident memory CD8T cells contribute to hypertension and the phenomenon of ‘salt memory,’ which drives the progression and recurrence of hypertension. Katie, who has already received fellowship funding from the American Heart Association (AHA), is now also recognized by the NIH with a grant totaling $77,890. This funding will support her stipends and research-related expenses for the next two years. Associate Professor Dr. Shengyu Mu is serving as Katie’s mentor and sponsor. Collaborators contributing to this award include Assistant Professor Dr. Yunmeng Liu, Associate Professor Dr. Yuet-Kin (Ricky) Leung from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Assistant Professor Dr. Lu Huang, and Associate Professor Dr. Lin-Xi Li from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.