Saguna Verma and Chi-Yun Lai - AAI Careers in Immunology Fellowship

Dr. Saguna Verma, Associate Professor in the Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa is recipient of the 2015 American Association of Immunologist (AAI) Careers in Immunology Fellowship. The AAI Careers in Immunology Fellowship will support the career development of Dr. Verma by providing one year of salary support for her post-doctoral fellow Dr. Chih-Yun Lai. Selection of Fellowship recipients is based on a combination of merit of the project, potential of the trainee and quality of the mentoring environment.

The research project supported through this Fellowship will define the role of a novel Nod-like receptor (NLR) family protein NLRC5 in regulating anti-viral immunity to West Nile virus (WNV). Immune control of Flaviviruses including WNV requires synergy between multiple virus-recognition pathways, understanding of which is essential to develop new immunotherapies. The findings from this study will provide mechanistic insights into the complex cross-talk between innate-adaptive arms of immunity to WNV.