Research News

Clarety Kaseke’s path to medicine began long before medical school. Personal experiences from a young age sparked a deep curiosity about how diseases affect individuals and communities, and how the immune system responds to the environments people live in. Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine gave her the opportunity to explore her questions at the intersection of research and medicine. 

Kaseke, who is in her fourth year of medical school at the Lerner College of Medicine, is beginning a new research project exploring how diet, chronic stress and the gut microbiome influence immune function in the gastrointestinal tract for patients with inflammatory bowel disease and related conditions.  

She is conducting her research in the laboratory of Thaddeus Stappenbeck, MD, PhD. Her project is independently supported by a competitive American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) medical student research award, which will fund her dedicated summer research period.  

In the Q&A below, she discusses her path to research, the mentors who supported her work and how Cleveland Clinic helped make her project possible. 

Can you tell us about your background and how you became interested in research? 

I was born and raised in Zimbabwe and came to the United States in 2015 to pursue my undergraduate education at Barnard College of Columbia University. 

Growing up in the 1990s, I witnessed the height of the HIV epidemic in Zimbabwe. I also saw a lot of infectious and diarrheal diseases related to sanitation issues. I didn’t have the language for it at the time, but those experiences stayed with me.  

They sparked my interest in disease and in understanding how the human body responds to it. I wanted to understand why some individuals and communities were more vulnerable to illness, and how the immune system responds to environmental pressures over time.

Why did you choose Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine? 

The structure of the program was one of the biggest factors for me. We are exposed to basic science research early in medical school, followed by clinical research and then clinical rotations, before transitioning into a dedicated full-time research year. 

That protected research time is incredibly valuable for students who hope to build careers as physician-scientists. The tuition-free model was also important to me from a financial perspective, and the small class size creates an environment where faculty are genuinely accessible. You’re able to build real mentorship relationships, ask questions openly and receive thoughtful guidance and feedback from people who are deeply invested in your growth. 

What is the focus of the research supported by your ACG award? 

My research looks at how environmental factors including chronic psychological stress and diet affect immune function in the gastrointestinal tract. I study an antibody called IgA, which plays a central role in maintaining immune integrity in the gut. 

Our lab has previously shown in preclinical models that immune responses to dietary interventions (in this case, IgA levels in response to fiber supplements) may vary significantly between individuals. 

I’m now investigating whether similar patterns exist in humans by analyzing samples collected before and after a controlled dietary fiber intervention. I am working to understand why some subjects demonstrated robust mucosal immune responses while others exhibited limited or even impaired responses despite receiving the same intervention. 

Ultimately, I hope this work contributes to a more mechanistic understanding of how diet, stress and the microbiome interact to shape immune resilience. From a clinical perspective, these findings could help inform more personalized nutritional and microbiome-directed strategies for patients with gastrointestinal conditions. 

What kind of support did you receive while applying for the grant? 

One of the things that stood out to me is how willing people are here to help and invest in you! The faculty-to-student ratio meant I could just walk up to people and say, “I’m applying for a grant. This is the research that I want to do,” and more often than not they were all really willing to sit down with me and talk it through.  

For the grants I ended up getting, I had help from multiple people. 

I got a lot of help from Dr. Stappenbeck as well as members of the Stappenbeck Lab; Olumuyiwa Awoniyi, MD, PhD; Jan Claesen, PhD; and Manuel Bonfim Braga Neto, MD, PhD. I was able to meet and learn from a lot of other researchers from around the country through Dr. Stappenbeck’s connections, too. 

How did your clinical training influence how you think about research? 

In research, you often study mechanisms in controlled settings. In clinical rotations, you begin to see how illness unfolds within the realities of people’s lives. Factors like chronic stress, nutrition, caregiving responsibilities, financial limitations and access to care all become part of the clinical picture. You start seeing patterns and asking broader questions. 

Research gives me the opportunity to step back from individual encounters and investigate those larger questions while still remaining grounded in patient care. Being able to ask those questions—and having the support to explore them—is one of the reasons I want research to continue to be part of my career.