Academic Background

Education:

• B.Sc. Women’s Christian College, Madras, India. 1989
• M.Sc. Christian Medical College, Vellore, India. 1992
• Ph.D. University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA. 1999

Post-Doctoral Training:

• Massachusetts General Hospital, 1999-2002

Research Interests

• Immunopathogenesis of viral infections
• Murine T cell responses to dengue virus infections
• Murine T cell responses to poxvirus infections
• Human immune responses to flavivirus infections

We are involved with understanding T cell responses to acute viral infections including dengue virus and vaccinia virus.

Dengue viruses

Dengue viruses are mosquito-borne viruses that infect individuals in tropical and subtropical countries. They comprise four closely related but distinct viruses termed serotypes 1 through 4. Studies on humans infected with dengue provide strong evidence for an immunologic basis for the pathogenesis of severe disease DHF. Experimental manipulation of in vivo immune responses to dengue would be a desirable approach to explore models of DHF pathogenesis and to test the potential for candidate vaccines to prevent disease. Unfortunately there are no currently acceptable animal models to study dengue pathogenesis. We are evaluating different murine models including “humanized” mice as small animal models for the study of dengue virus infection, immunity, and disease.

Vaccinia virus

Despite the eradication of smallpox throughout the world, smallpox has gained attention in recent years as a potential bioterrorist threat. Strains of vaccinia virus which are in the licensed smallpox vaccine have played a central role in the eradication of smallpox but the relatively high incidence of adverse events after immunization has been a deterrent to immunizing the general population. Therefore attenuated novel poxvirus vaccines that provide a better balance between immunogenicity and pathogenicity need to be critically evaluated. We are interested in delineating the underlying mechanisms that affect the size and quality of the CD8+ T cell immune responses to licensed and novel pox virus vaccines.