Uma Plenz, B.S., B.A.

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Contact Information

Summary

Uma Plenz earned a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences and a Bachelor of Arts in German Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2026. During her studies, she conducted research under Dr. Yogen Kanthi at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, where she studied microscale purification of immunoglobulins from patients with antiphospholipid syndrome.

Additionally, at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Uma worked under Dr. Kathleen Pratt. She studied von Willebrand factor multimer distribution in patients with severe COVID-19 and the purification of the C2 domain of Factor VIII, an essential blood protein in patients with hemophilia A.

Research Statement

At the NIH, Uma studies the skin microbiome in patients with inflammatory skin diseases and primary immunodeficiencies, as well as in healthy volunteers, in Dr. Heidi Kong's laboratory. She contributes to clinical microbiome research through patient-centered studies, clinical metadata curation, and the ethical conduct of human subjects research.

Education

University of Maryland, College Park 
B.S. in Biological Sciences and B.A. in German Studies (2022-2026)

Experience

Postbaccalaureate Fellow 
Laboratory of Cutaneous Microbiome and Inflammation, NIH/NIAMS (2025-Present)

Summer Research Fellow 
Laboratory of Vascular Thrombosis and Inflammation, NIH/NHLBI (2024) 

Summer Research Fellow 
Laboratory of Hematology, USU (2022 and 2023)

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