Jyothi Rengarajan, PhD

Jyothi Rengarajan received her PhD at Harvard University in molecular immunology and conducted postdoctoral research on tuberculosis (TB) at the Harvard School of Public Health. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Emory Vaccine Center and the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at the Emory University School of Medicine. Her research program centers on understanding the mechanisms of TB pathogenesis and host immunity in humans and animal models, specifically in mice and nonhuman primates (NHP). Using a combination of functional genomics, proteomics, microbiologic and immunologic approaches, her group studies M. tuberculosis mechanisms involved in evading host immunity and novel strategies for developing vaccines and therapeutics for TB. 

Dr. Rengarajan also conducts patient-based research through collaborative partnerships in the metro-Atlanta area, India, Brazil, Kenya and South Africa to study human immunity to latent TB infection (LTBI) and active TB disease, with the goal of uncovering mechanisms of protective immunity relevant to vaccines. Through collaborative studies within the Tuberculosis Research Unit (TBRU)-ASTRa and the Refugee Clinic at the DeKalb County Health Department, she has been involved in studying immune parameters in individuals with LTBI before and after treatment with 3 months of isoniazid and rifampicin (3HP), to define antigen-specific T cell immunity associated with LTBI and its clearance. In complementary studies, they have established models of LTBI and 3HP treatment in NHPs, which could lead to improved ways to monitor efficacy of new LTBI treatment regimens.

In collaboration with Dr. Susan Ray and colleagues, Dr. Rengarajan’s group has identified and validated biomarkers of TB infection and disease in both HIV-infected and uninfected individuals and has contributed to understanding how HIV perturbs immunity to TB in humans, and in NHP models of Mtb/SIV co-infection and anti-retroviral therapy. Dr. Rengarajan has also established partnerships with NIH RePORT consortia investigators in the U.S., India and Brazil on multiple translational projects, and is involved in mentoring and training numerous undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and in career development mentoring for MD fellows and junior faculty. Dr. Rengarajan serves in leadership roles on national and international committees, including the Council for Microbial Sciences at ASM, the IMPAACT Working Group for TB Vaccines, co-chairs the T cell research community think-tank for the Bill and Melinda Gates Collaboration for TB Vaccine Development (CTVD) and serves on multiple grant review committees.