Faculty Directory

Education

Degree	Institution	Major
M.D.	University of Connecticut School of Medicine	Medicine
Ph.D.	Center Cell & Molecular Biol.	Biochemistry
Other	Osaka University	Microbial genetics
M.S.	University of Allahabad	Botany (Palentology)
B.S.	University of Allahabad	Biology

Post-Graduate Training

Training	Institution	Specialty
Post Doctoral	Yale University	Molecular Dev. Biology
Post Doctoral	Sloan-Kettering Institute	Immunology

Awards

Name of Award/Honor	Awarding Organization
Member, Scientific Advisory Council	CRI
UICC Roll of Honor
Mildred Scheel Lecturer at the Intl. Conf. on "Hyperthermia in Oncology", Munich
Irma T. Hirshl Award
Investigator Award of CRI
John Hans and Edna Alice Old Postdoctoral Fellowship	Cancer Research Institute

Our laboratory’s research interests lie in four areas: antigen presentation by MHC I and MHC II molecules, immune response to cancer, viral immunity, and autoimmunity. Our pursuit of these areas is linked to a key set of observations made by our laboratory over the past 20 years. These observations are: (1) Heat shock proteins (HSP) isolated from cells are always associated with a broad array of peptides. These peptides are derived from the proteins present in the cell and together, the HSP-associated peptide profile represents the total protein/peptide repertoire of a cell including the antigenic repertoire. (2) The HSP-peptide complexes, whether isolated from cells, or reconstituted in vitro, are potent immunogens against the peptides and cells presenting those peptides. The immune response elicited by such complexes is heavily skewed towards a cellular T cell response. (3) HSPs have remarkable immunomodulatory properties which derive from their interaction with macrophage and dendritic cells through a receptor, identified by us as CD91. Our laboratory has used these observations to explore new key aspects of antigen presentation and to develop innovative approaches for therapy of cancer, infections and autoimmune disorders. It is our view that the HSP-peptide interaction is an evolutionary precursor to the MHC-peptide interaction and lies at the center of a wide array of immunological phenomena.

Not accepting Lab Rotation Students at this time

Lab Rotation Projects
The following constitutes most of what we do. Students are encouraged to create rotation projects out of any of these areas.

(1) We study antigen presentation and cross-priming. We have uncovered a key role of heat shock proteins, the most highly conserved and abundant proteins in living systems, in both of these phenomena, which are central to immunology.

(2) Our studies with heat shock proteins have lead to novel approaches to immunotherapy of cancers and infectious diseases, which are in Phase 3 clinical trials in over 200 hospitals worldwide.

(3) We have also shown heat shock proteins to elicit regulatory CD4+ T cells; the mechanism of this phenomenon as well as its application to therapy of autoimmune diseases are of continuing interest to us.

(4) This laboratory has a new-found interest in neuro-immunology. We do not have much of a track record in this area, as we just published our first paper in it. Our interest is driven by the many observations that demonstrate a clear link between the nervous and the immune systems. We aim to explore those links through new phenomena and their mechanisms at the molecular, cellular and organismal levels.

Journal Articles

Book Chapters

Conference Papers

Editorials

Reviews

Short Surveys