Chenthamarakshan Vasu, Ph.D.

My research is focused on basic mechanistic and clinical translational aspects of inflammation and immune tolerance, and cancer cell biology with the goal of developing targeted therapies for autoimmune diseases (type 1 diabetes, lupus, and thyroiditis), colitis, and cancers. My lab has been studying the molecular mechanisms associated with inflammation, antigen specific T cell tolerance, and developing engineered dendritic cell and mesenchymal stem cell based and T cell targeting therapeutic approaches for many autoimmune conditions, and nutritional immunology approach to ameliorate gut inflammation. Recently, my lab has been studying gut microbiota-host interaction in the context of autoimmunity and inflammation using an array of knock-out mouse models as well as human samples. During recent years, my team has also been involved in cancer cell biology and centriole biogenesis work focused on critical centriole biogenesis proteins. We have been studying the role of these centriolar proteins, Centrobin and CPAP, in various clinical conditions including inflammation and oral cancer. Overall, my current research projects include studies on host-microbiota interaction and microbial metabolites in the context of autoimmunity and inflammation, cell biology aspects of tumorigenesis, and novel cellular therapies for various clinical conditions. My expertise in various areas of immunology and inflammation, cancer biology, and generating and working with mouse models help to carry out diverse and versatile research projects successfully.