Titles and Education

1. Professor of Immunology
2. DVM, Veterinary College, Univ. Agri. Sci. Bangalore, India
3. MVSc., Veterinary College, Univ. Agri. Sci. Bangalore, India
4. Ph.D, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
5. Postdoctoral Fellowship, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA.

Research

From Mechanism to Medicine: T Cell Biology Driving Next-Generation Vaccines and Immunotherapies

Dr. Suresh’s research dissects the cellular and molecular circuits that govern antiviral and vaccine-elicited immunity—then uses those mechanistic insights to engineer better interventions. His program has mapped how PI3K/Akt/FoxO, MyD88–Akt–mTOR, Mcl-1, BACH2, and CCR2 shape effector-to-memory transitions, survival, and mucosal trafficking of CD8/CD4 T cells during acute and chronic infection. By resolving how dendritic cells cross-present antigen—and how adjuvants rewire their metabolism—his group has shown how specific adjuvant chemistries (e.g., carbomer-based and polymeric pathogen-like particles) can be tuned to generate durable, tissue-targeted T-cell memory. Complementing this, structural and systems-level studies (e.g., adjuvant–PRR engagement, lipid-metabolic control during H1N1) reveal levers that can be rationally adjusted to control magnitude, quality, and localization of immune responses.

These mechanistic advances directly drive innovative vaccine and immunotherapeutic strategies. The lab has translated pathway-level findings into mucosal vaccines that elicit airway-surveilling memory T cells to SARS-CoV-2 variants, mosaic nucleoprotein approaches that diversify anti-influenza T-cell breadth, and effective nanovaccines in poultry—aligning with One-Health pandemic preparedness. In parallel, principles gleaned from T-cell fate control and cytokine/coinhibitory networks inform immunotherapy concepts (e.g., timing IL-7, combining checkpoint modulation with memory-biased ACT) aimed at enhancing durability and function of protective T cells. Together, this bench-to-bedside loop—mechanism → design rule → prototype—defines a research program that uses basic immunology to purpose-build next-generation vaccines and T-cell–centered immunotherapies.

Complete List of Published Work in MyBibliography:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/marulasiddappa.suresh.1/bibliography/public

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=gnJJlB4AAAAJ&hl=en

Responsibilities

Instructor for the Veterinary Immunology Course

Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education

Director, Dual Degree (DVM/PhD) Program

Program Director (NIH/T32) Comparative Biosciences Training Program

Graduate Training

Dr. Suresh has mentored numerous PhD and MS students, reflecting his deep commitment to training the next generation of biomedical scientists. He has provided programmatic leadership as former Director of Graduate Studies for the Comparative Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program, and currently directs the DVM/PhD Dual Degree Program ([Link]) as well as the NIH T32 Comparative Biomedical Sciences Training Program for Veterinarians in Biomedical Research ([Link]). Through these roles, he has advanced both institutional and national efforts to develop a robust veterinary biomedical research workforce.

Recent Publications

1. Singh, A., A. Jatzek, E. H. Plisch, R. Srinivasan, J. Svaren, and M. Suresh (2010) Regulation of memory CD8 T cell differentiation by CDK inhibitor p27Kip1. Mol. Cell. Biol. (Accepted).

   Hatta, Y, K. Hershberger, K. Shinya, S. C. Proll, R. D. Dubielzig, M. Hatta, M. G. Katze, Y. Kawaoka, and M. Suresh (2010) Viral replication rate regulates clinical outcome and CD8 T cell responses during highly pathogenic H5N1 Influenza virus infection. PLOS Pathogens. (Accepted).

   Nakayama, Y., E. H. Plisch, J. A. Sullivan, C. J. Czuprynski, B. R. J. Williams, and M. Suresh (2010). PKR and Type I IFNs are dispensable for memory T cell expansion but required for viral control during primary and secondary infections. PLOS Pathog. 6(6):e1000966 Link.

   Nakayama, Y., S. Kim, E. Kim, M. Sandor, and M. Suresh (2009) C3 promotes expansion of CD8+ and CD4+ T cells in a Listeria monocytogenes infection. J. Immunol. 183: 2921-31 Link.

   Ito, Y., K. Shinya, M. Kiso, T. Watanabe, Y. Sakoda, M. Hatta, Y. Muramoto, D. Tamura, Y. Sakai-Tagawa, T. Noda, S. Sakabe, M. Imai, Y. Hatta, S. Watanabe, C. Li, S. Yamada, K. Fujii, S. Murakami, H. Imai, S. Kakugawa, M. Ito, R. Takano, K. Iwatsuki-Horimoto, M. Shimojima, T. Horimoto, H. Goto, K. Takahashi, A. Makino, H. Ishigaki, M. Nakayama, M. Okamatsu, K. Takahashi, D. Warshauer, P. A. Schult, R. Saito, H. Suzuki, Y. Furuta, M. Yamashita, K. Mitamura, K. Nakano, M. Nakamura, R. Brockman-Schneider, H. Mitamura, M. Yamazaki, N. Sugaya, M. Suresh, M. Ozawa, G. Neumann, J. Gern, H. Kida, K. Ogasawara, and Y. Kawaoka (2009) In vitro and in vivo characterization of new swine-origin H1N1 influenza viruses. Nature: 460:102

3.