Dr. Alexander Boyden received a five-year NIH R01 award entitled “Pathogenic B cell:CD4 T Cell Interactions in a Novel B Cell-dependent EAE Mouse Model of Multiple Sclerosis” from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID).

Connor Wilhelm completed the Pathology M.S. program by successfully defending his thesis on June 30th, 2023. He performed his thesis work in the laboratory of Dr. Nitin Karandikar, with additional mentorship from Dr. Alexander Boyden in the Karandikar group. Drs. Ashutosh Mangalam and Scott Lieberman also served on his thesis committee.

Dr. Alexander Boyden has been awarded a 2022 American Association of Immunologists (AAI) Early Career Faculty Travel Grant and podium talk for his research entitled “B cell-mediated antigen presentation is required to induce functional pathogenicity of CD4 T cells in a proteolipid protein mouse model of multiple sclerosis” at the American Association of Immunologists annual meeting in Portland, OR on May 6-10, 2022

Dr. Nitin Karandikar received another 4-year VA Merit Award, entitled “Effector-Regulator Immune Interactions During Autoimmune Demyelinating Disease.” This competitive award was made under the VA’s CSRD (Clinical Science Research and Development) program, which focuses on clinically relevant translational research.

Dr. Kai Rogers, a second-year pathology resident, has been awarded a grant entitled “Exploring functional changes in peripheral T-lymphocyte populations in patients undergoing extracorporeal photopheresis” from The Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists (ACLPS).

Dr. Nitin Karandikar successfully renewed his VA Merit Award, entitled “Immunotherapeutic Regulatory CD8 T cells in Autoimmune Demyelinating Disease.” Based on the outstanding score for the renewal application, Dr. Karandikar was also nominated for and received the VA Senior Clinician Scientist Investigator (SCSI) Award. This SCSI Award includes a MERIT award extension for 4 years, amounting to a total eight-year award.

Interleukin (IL)-17A is an important cytokine responsible for control of various microbial infections. IL-17A, IL-17F and the IL-17AF heterodimer are the signature cytokines produced by a particular type of CD4+ T-helper cell, designated as “Th17”. When dysregulated, Th17 cells and their cytokines contribute to the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and inflammatory bowel disease, among others. Thus far, research into the mechanisms of IL-17 action has focused on the effect of these cytokines on various cell types, including endothelial cells, epithelial cells, fibroblasts, neutrophils, monocytes/macrophages.

Following a national election conducted by the APC, Dr. Nitin Karandikar was elected as the Chair of the APC Research Committee and a member of the APC Council for a three-year term (2020-2023). For more information about APC, visit: https://www.apcprods.org.

Dr. Sterling Ortega received a one year pilot grant from the National MS Society entitled, “The Neuro-reparative Role of Myelin-specific CD8 T-cells in EAE Recovery”. The grant will explore the means by which CD8 T-cells can blunt and possibly reverse the autoimmune destruction that occurs during multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Nitin Karandikar received a VA grant award, entitled “ShEEP Request for Cytek AURORA Spectral Flow Cytometer,” under the VA’s Shared Equipment Evaluation Program (ShEEP).