Naomi Fettig, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Associate

Naomi graduated from the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada with a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Immunology in 2018. She then obtained a PhD from UBC in 2025 under the supervision of Dr Lisa Osborne and Dr Marc Horwitz. In her PhD research, she studied how environmental factors promote or protect against neuroinflammation in mouse models of multiple sclerosis (MS). This work focused on T cell-mediated mechanisms of autoimmunity and neuroinflammation. One aspect of her work focused on understanding how modulations of the gut microbiome, either through dietary fiber intake or through the aging process, affected MS-like disease progression. She also studied how infection with an intestinal helminth could modify the neuro-immune landscape and protect mice from disease. Naomi joined the Schafer Lab in October 2025 as a Postdoctoral Associate, where she will focus on understanding microglia-T cell communication in demyelinating disease, and how these interactions affect the remyelination process.