Aparna Nandavaram PhD

Focussed on developing a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell-based immunotherapy targeting CD4+ follicular T helper (Tfh) cells that express the chemokine receptor CXCR5 in the context of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL), a rare yetaggressive T-cell lymphoma.

Generating a pre-clinical murine model (using CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-in of the human chemokineand receptor to replace the murine counterparts) to investigate the role CXCR5 in lymphomagenesis and as a potential therapeutic target.

Developing a high-throughput screening platform to identify small molecule agonists and antagonists ofchemokines and their cognate G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), with the aim of identifying antagonists (biotherapeutics) targeting chemokine receptor signaling.

Interested in investigating the downstream signaling cascade involved in the pathogenesis of AITL which includes signal transduction of RhoA G17V with Vav1 GEF.