RESEARCH PROJECTS

Welcome to the Immunometabolism lab! Multiple interactions between diverse biological systems and the constant flux within each system governs life as we know it. Our lab is interested in understanding the complex interplay between two such systems- metabolic network fluxes and their influence on the behavior of the immune cells. We are primarily interested in understanding this interaction in the context of three very varied scenarios

Immunometabolic landscape in M.tb infections

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is one of the most successful pathogens known to mankind. Along with perturbing the host cell signaling and metabolic axis, M.tb has also evolved to fine tune host metabolic networks to alter host cell death modality to it’s own advantage. In our lab we will explore the complex metabolic interplay between cell death, metabolic flux changes and immune modulation in the neighborhood of an infected cells

Environmental cross talk and cell death

In line with our research goal for infectious diseases, a parallel research theme of the lab focuses on the more fundamental question of how environmental metabolic fluctuations impinge upon cell death and vice-versa. Cell death, contrary to what is thought is not just a final goodbye. Cell death heavily influences the tissue around it. We are interested in understanding how the metabolic environment of a tissue alters this communication between a dying cell and its neighborhood and how in the end this process alters the process of clearance of dead cells.

Immunometabolism of senesence

As an organism ages, a chronic state of inflammation sets in often referred to as inflamaging. Multiple homeostatic mechanisms start to falter to lead to this phenotype, however which precedes the other is hard to pin down. One such contributing factor is the enhanced presence of senescent cells in the body as we age. Changes leading to senescence induction, its sustenance and production of SASP involve a large number of metabolic triggers and flux changes. We are interested in exploring the intra-organell metabolic exchange during senescence induction and how this communication impacts SASP.

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