I was born in the South Indian State of Kerala. I received Bachelor’s degree in Zoology (Hons) from Darjeeling Government College under North Bengal University. Subsequently, I received a Master’s degree in Integrated Biology from the School of Biological Sciences at Madurai Kamaraj University, a premier institution in India, with a project entitled “Molecular Assessment of Fibroin messenger RNA in the silk worm, Bombyx mori”. Later I obtained a PhD in Immunology with a thesis entitled “Humoral Immune Response against Mycobacterial Antigens in Human Leprosy” from the same institution. These studies provided me with a broad outlook and varied knowledge in diverse biological processes. Since my education was from institutions of higher learning from various parts of the country, I am either proficient or able to understand a number of Indian languages. I changed field to the immunology of transplantation and worked as a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. T. Mohanakumar at Washington University, St. Louis. My task at WashU was to investigate the role of biochemical and cellular immune mechanisms in basic immunology and in clinical kidney, liver and lung transplantations. In 1994 I began my career as research instructor in the Department of Surgery, Division of Transplantation at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where I progressed to the position of Associate Professor in the Research Track by 2002. In June of 2007, I was recruited to the Comprehensive Transplant Center (CTC) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Currently, I also direct the Immune Monitoring Core of the CTC.

My research for the past 25 years has been in the areas of immune responsiveness and tolerance induction in clinical organ transplantation. These studies have resulted in more than 240 publications including book chapters, review articles and editorials, original papers and presentations. The major thrust of these has been on the immunological effects of donor bone marrow cell (DBMC) and donor hematopoietic stem cell (DHSC) infusions in organ transplant patients using in vitro and ex vivo culture systems. It has been observed that using multiple assays for donor specific unresponsiveness may identify potentially tolerant recipients who may be candidates for immunosuppressive drug (IS) withdrawal. Recent studies have also assessed the role of CD4+CD127-CD25High FoxP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) as potential tolerance inducers in kidney and liver transplant patients, as well as the differential susceptibility these cells to various immunosuppressive drugs used in clinical transplantation. A major current focus is on the use of autologous expanded Tregs for tolerance induction in transplantation, autoimmunity and allergic diseases.