Dr. Ucar is a scientist with interdisciplinary training in systems immunology, epigenomics, computational biology, and the biology of aging. Her research program focuses on understanding how infectious diseases and aging shape human immune development and function, with the ultimate goal of improving vaccine efficacy and therapeutic strategies across the lifespan. Her lab applies a systems immunology framework—integrating single-cell genomics, functional immunology, and computational analysis — to investigate how immune responses vary across individuals and age groups. She studies immune remodeling during aging, as well as the transcriptional and epigenomic impacts of infectious diseases and vaccinations.
Through close collaborations with clinical partners, including the UConn Center on Aging, she lead longitudinal cohort studies in older adults and children to identify biomarkers of immune resilience, vaccine responsiveness, and infection severity. Her work is supported by federal (NIH) and foundation (Hevolution, CZI) funding and has yielded foundational insights into human immune variation, including sex-specific and age-associated immune trajectories. She is particularly interested in translating these findings into precision vaccination strategies tailored to vulnerable populations, including infants and older adults.
Visit the Ucar Personal Lab Site