Lucia

Vojtech

PhD

What do you like about working at UW Medicine?

I love the diversity of research interests across a large school like UW. I collaborate with scientists from all kinds of disciplines, including bioengineering, infectious disease, chemical engineering, and genome sciences. It's really wonderful to have an expert in almost anything working locally.

Research Interests: 

A primary focus of my work is investigating how factors in semen, especially extracellular vesicles, impact immunity in the female genital mucosa. How semen influences immunity has wide-ranging implications for outcomes including infertility and conception, susceptibility to sexually transmitted disease, and the success of vaccine-mediated immune protection against diseases like HIV. My current project focus on sexual transmission of Zika virus, and how semen mediates immunity to paternal antigens pre-conception.

Research Questions:

How does semen influence infectious disease and immunity in the female genital tract?
Does semen contribute to tolerance to pregnancy, pre-conception?
Can we use biomarkers in blood to diagnose the risk of developing pre-eclampsia during pregnancy?
What does a protective immune response to Chlamydia infection look like?
How can we design an effective vaccine against Chlamydia?
Does opioid use change sperm and eggs?
Is it possible that opioid use affects future generations?

Education & Training: 
PhD, Pathobiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2011
BS, Biochemistry, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, 2001

Memberships: 
The American Association of Immunologists
The International Society for Extracellular Vesicles
Society for Mucosal Immunology

Date Joined UW Medicine: 2011

My NCBI: My NCBI Bibliography