Venuprasad K. Poojary
Venuprasad K. Poojary, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
110 E. Warren Avenue, Room 4120
Detroit, MI 48201
313-578-9794
poojaryv@karmanos.org
Research Description:
The main research objective in Dr. Poojary’s laboratory is aimed at studying the role of ubiquitin conjugation in the immune cells. Ubiquitin conjugation is a novel means of post-transcriptional modification that regulates many aspects of immune cells including their development, activation, and tolerance. Our previous studies have highlighted the critical role of ubiquitin ligases Cbl-b and Itch in immune tolerance. Deficiency or mutation of these ligases results in abnormal immune responses resulting in chronic inflammation, malignancy, and autoimmunity. We utilize highly sophisticated molecular, biochemical and genetic approaches to delineate complex biochemical processes in the immune cells. A clear understanding of these pathways is expected to facilitate the development of novel therapeutic approaches to eradicate malignant tumors.
Selected Publications:
Jeon MS*, Atfield A*, Venuprasad K*, Krawczyk C, Sarao R, Elly C, Yang C, AryaS, Bachmaier K, Su L, Bouchard D, Jones R, Gronski M, Ohashi P, Wada T, Bloom D, Fathman CG, Liu YC, Penninger JM. Essential Role of the E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Cbl-b in T cells Anergy Induction. Immunity. 2004 Aug;21(2):167-77 (*equal contribution first authors).
Heissmeyer V, Macian F, Im SH, Varma R, Feske S, Venuprasad K, Gu H, Liu YC, Dustin ML, Rao A. Calcineurin imposes T cell unresponsiveness through targeted proteolysis of signaling proteins. Nat Immunol. 2004 Mar;5(3):255-65.
Venuprasad K. Huang H, Elly C, Harada Y, Subramaniam M, Splesberg T, Su J and Liu, YC. The E3 ubiquitin ligase Itch regulates expression of transcription factor Foxp3 and airway inflammation via enhancing the function of transcription factor TIEG1. Nat. Immunology. 2008 Mar;9(3):245-53. PMCID: PMC2610020
Venuprasad K, Chis Elly, Min Gao, Shahram Salek-Ardakani, Chun Yang, Jeon MS, Michael Croft, Michael Karin and Liu YC. Convergence of Itch-induced ubiquitination with MEKK1-JNK signaling in Th2 tolerance and airway inflammation. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2006 Apr;116(4):1117–26. PMCID: PMC1409741
Chang L, Kamata H, Solinas G, Luo JL, Maeda S, Venuprasad K, Liu YC, Karin M. The E3 ubiquitin ligase Itch couples JNK activation to TNFα-induced cell death by inducing c-FLIP (L) turnover. Cell. 2006.124(3):601-13.
Dong-Jun Peng, Indrajit Sinha, Minghui Zeng, Malayannan Subramaniam, Thomas C Spelsberg, and Venuprasad K. Non-canonical K-27 linked polyubiquitination of TIEG1 regulates Foxp3 expression and tumor growth. J Immunol. 2011 May 15;186(10):5638-47.
Venuprasad K, Kong YC, Farrar MA. Control of Th2-mediated inflammation by regulatory T cells. Am J Pathol. 2010 Aug;177(2):525-31. PMCID: PMC2913351
Venuprasad K. Cbl-b and itch: key regulators of peripheral T-cell tolerance. Cancer Res. 2010 Apr 15;70(8):3009-12. PMCID: PMC2856114
Education and Training:
PhD (2002): National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), India