Pooja Vir, PhD

I have my PhD degree in Biochemistry, Cell Biology and Immunology. My major research interests include studying the biology of host immune response in immune mediated disease conditions that include infectious, metabolic and inherited disorders. I have significant expertise in immunological topics and techniques, including mechanisms of immune tolerance, novel single-cell techniques, analytical and critical analyses. It is specifically targeted to measure human T cells immunological activity that can be interpreted for a better diagnosis or prevention of the disease.

My current research projects have focused on the problem of neutralizing anti-drug antibodies in hemophilia A, clinically termed “inhibitors” that inhibit normal blood coagulation induced by administered therapeutic Factor VIII protein. This work comprised the elucidation of physiological Factor VIII expression sites in human endothelial cells pertinent for the development of targeted gene therapy and immuno-profiling of human T cells to address immunogenicity of Factor VIII (and other therapeutic proteins) using confocal microscopy and ELISPOT assays. Previous research efforts culminated in the development of single cell Fluorescence in situ hybridization based flow cytometry (FISH-Flow) assay to identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) antigen-specific cytokine signature in peripheral blood cells to distinguish between Mtb latent infection, and uninfected individuals; and identification of memory T cell specific cytokine signature to differentiate between Mtb latently infected individuals and active Tuberculosis patients.