I was born and raised in Texas and Kansas City, but I got to Iowa as fast as possible! At Texas A&M University I earned a premedical BS degree graduating magna cum laude with honors coursework. Before going into medical school, I completed one year of basic science research and this is where I first met Dr. Nitin Karandikar. I assisted the start-up of his first lab at UT Southwestern and co-authored two of his landmark publications on the role of CD8 T cells in patients afflicted with Multiple Sclerosis. I went on to complete medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX. Subsequently, I completed my internship with the Michael E. DeBakey Department of General Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. I then attended Family Medicine residency at the University of Texas Medical Branch back in Galveston, TX. I now rejoin Dr. Karandikar’s research lab with a great deal of experience and knowledge in clinical medicine with aspirations to contribute to science research in novel and exciting ways.

Publications

• Altered expression of SIRPγ on the T-cells of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes patients could potentiate effector responses from T-cells. Sinha S, Renavikar PS, Crawford MP, Steward-Tharp SM, Brate A, Tsalikian E, Tansey M, Shivapour ET, Cho T, Kamholz J, Karandikar NJ. PLoS One. 2020 Aug 27;15(8):e0238070. [PubMed]
   
• CD4 T cell-intrinsic role for the T helper 17 signature cytokine IL-17: Effector resistance to immune suppression. Crawford MP, Sinha S, Renavikar PS, Borcherding N, Karandikar NJ. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Jul 27:202005010. [PubMed]
   
• Autoimmunity-associated intronic SNP (rs2281808) detected by a simple phenotypic assay: Unique case or broader opportunity? Sinha S, Renavikar PS, Crawford MP, Rodgers JW, Tsalikian E, Tansey M, Karandikar NJ. Clin Immunol. 2019 Jan;198:57-61. [PubMed]
   
• An autoimmune disease risk SNP, rs2281808, in SIRPG is associated with reduced expression of SIRPγ and heightened effector state in human CD8 T-cells. Sinha S, Borcherding N, Renavikar PS, Crawford MP, Tsalikian E, Tansey M, Shivapour ET, Bittner F, Kamholz J, Olalde H, Gibson E, Karandikar NJ. Sci Rep. 2018 Oct 18;8(1):15440. [PubMed]
   
• Induction of regulatory T-cells from memory T-cells is perturbed during acute exacerbation of multiple sclerosis. Mohiuddin IH, Pillai V, Baughman EJ, Greenberg BM, Frohman EM, Crawford MP, Sinha S, Karandikar NJ. Clin Immunol. 2016 May;166-167:12-8. [PubMed]
   
• CD8(+) T-Cells as Immune Regulators of Multiple Sclerosis. Sinha S, Boyden AW, Itani FR, Crawford MP, Karandikar NJ. Front Immunol. 2015 Dec 10;6:619. [PubMed]
   
• Multiparameter Flow Cytometric Assays to Quantify Effector and Regulatory T-Cell Function in Multiple Sclerosis. Sinha S, Crawford MP, Ortega SB, Karandikar NJ. J Mult Scler (Foster City). 2015 Jan;2(1). [PubMed]
   
• Quantitative PCR for Epstein-Barr virus DNA and RNA in multiple sclerosis. Lindsey JW, Hatfield LM, Crawford MP, Patel S. Mult Scler. 2009 Feb;15(2):153-8. [PubMed]
   
• Soluble Nogo-A in CSF is not a useful biomarker for multiple sclerosis. Lindsey JW, Crawford MP, Hatfield LM. Neurology. 2008 Jul 1;71(1):35-7. [PubMed]
   
• High prevalence of autoreactive, neuroantigen-specific CD8+ T cells in multiple sclerosis revealed by novel flow cytometric assay. Crawford M, Yan S, Ortega S, Mehta R, Hewitt R, Price D, Stastny P, Douek D, Koup R, Racke M, Karandikar N. Blood. 2004 June;103(11):4222-31. [PubMed]
   
• Glatiramer acetate (Copaxone) therapy induces CD8(+) T cell responses in patients with multiple sclerosis. Karandikar N, Crawford M, Yan X, Ratts R, Brenchley J, Ambrozak D, Lovett-Racke A, Frohman E, Stastny P, Douek D, Koup R, Racke M. The Journal of clinical investigation. 2002 March;109(5):641-9. [PubMed]