Dissecting the role of programmed cell death – 1 receptor in the immune system

Dissecting the role of programmed cell death – 1 receptor in the immune system

Speaker: Dr Shoba Amarnath, Newcastle University

Hosts: Professor Leonie Taams and Professor Catherine Hawrylowicz

Dr Amarnath obtained a BSc in Biochemistry followed by a PhD in Immunology.  She then trained under Dr Wanjun Chen as a postdoctoral researcher at the NIH for 2 years followed by a second post-doctoral fellowship within the Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch at the NCI.  In 2012, Dr Amarnath was promoted to a Research Assistant Professor within the NCI, NIH.  In 2015, Dr Amarnath moved to Newcastle University on a Newcastle University Research Fellowship (Lecturer Equivalent).

Dr Amarnath’s research interest is to understand the molecular mechanisms that control immune tolerance.  Towards this goal, Dr Amarnath has demonstrated (a) the role of cytokines in controlling T regulatory cells (Immunity, 2012); (b) the role of co-inhibitory receptors in T-regulatory cells (Science Translational Medicine, 2011; Immunity 2018).

Ongoing work in the laboratory is mainly focussed on (a) how coinhibitory receptors contribute to immune tolerance by modulating Innate Lymphoid Cells (J.Exp.Med, 2017) and (b) how coinhibitory receptors regulate human T-regulatory cells.