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Seema N. Desai, PhD

Assistant Professor
Department of Pediatrics, RUSH Medical College
Research Areas

HIV/AIDS pathogenesis, aging and alcohol research

Contact Info:

1735 W. Harrison St.
Cohn Building
Chicago, IL 60612
Phone: (312) 942-9292
Fax: (312) 563-4026
seema_n_desai@rush.edu
Links:
Biography

Seema N. Desai, PhD, is an immunologist in the Department of Pediatrics. Her research work focuses on understanding mechanisms that lead to end organ diseases and aging in HIV infected/uninfected individuals. Desai leads various HIV and aging studies that investigate immune and bio-behavioral pathways that lead to immunosenescence. Desai is the principle investigator of NIH/NIAAA-funded consortium “Immune dys-regulation in HIV infected women with heavy alcohol consumption,” which investigates immune pathways of aging in HIV-infected women drinking hazardously. She leads the NIH/NIHMD-funded project “Early Senescence in HIV disease: When race defines age,” which investigates the impact of racial differences on immune perturbations in HIV and aging adults, a part of the Rush Center for Excellence on Disparities in HIV and Aging, or CEDHA. Desai has various collaborative efforts studying HIV-associated non-AIDS co-morbidities in HIV-infected individuals.

Desai’s research experience spans from pediatric to geriatric Immunology, innate and adaptive. She did her a postdoctoral training at the University of Miami ‘s Miller School of Medicine, studying innate immunity in HIV-infected children receiving long-term anti-retroviral therapy. Desai joined Rush University in 2007. She has been an assistant professor since 2010 and has developed an independent research focus studying T cell immunity, inflammation and aging. She has a secondary appointment in the Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine.

Desai has served as a board member on the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center and Southern HIV & Alcohol Research Consortium. She has participated and led HIV/AIDS Immunology working groups and has served on editorial boards and study sections. Desai has also made numerous presentations nationally and internationally and is a recipient of numerous prestigious scholarships and awards.

Publications

Complete list of published work on PubMed

Complete list of published work on Scopus

  1. Desai Seema N, Dodge JL, Landay AL, Glesby MJ, Latham PS, Villacres MC, French AL, Gange SJ, Greenblatt RM, Peters Marion, G. Hepatic fibrosis and immune phenotype vary by HCV viremia in HCV/HIV co-infected subjects: A Women’s interagency HIV study. Medicine (Baltimore). 2016 Aug; 95(33):e4483. PMCID: PMC5370796
     
  2. Norris PJ, Zhang J, Worlock A, Nair SV, Anastos K, Minkoff HL, Villacres MC, Young M, Greenblatt RM, Desai S, Landay AL, Gange SJ, Nugent CT, Golub ET, Keating SM. Systemic Cytokine Levels Do Not Predict CD4(+) T-Cell Recovery After Suppressive Combination Antiretroviral Therapy in Chronic Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2016 Feb 8; 3(1):ofw025. PMCID: PMC4782066
     
  3. Lang Kuhs KA, Kuniholm MH, Pfeiffer RM, Chen S, Desai S, Edlin BR, Peters MG, Plankey M, Sharp GB, Strickler HD, Villacres MC, Quinn TC, Gange SJ, Prokunina-Olsson L, Greenblatt RM, O’Brien TR. Interferon Lambda 4 Genotype Is Not Associated with Recurrence of Oral or Genital Herpes. PLoS One. 2015 Oct 2; 10(10):e0138827. PMCID: PMC4592222
     
  4. Karim R, Mack WJ, Kono N, Tien PC, Anastos K, Lazar J, Young M, Desai S, Golub ET, Kaplan RC, Hodis HN, Kovacs A. T-cell activation, both pre- and post-HAART levels, correlates with carotid artery stiffness over 6.5 years among HIV-infected women in the WIHS. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2014 Nov 1; 67(3):349-56. PMCID: PMC4197806
     
  5. Strickler HD, Martinson J, Desai S, Xie X, Burk RD, Anastos K, Massad LS, Minkoff H, Xue X, D’Souza G, Levine AM, Colie C, Watts DH, Palefsky JM, Landay A. The relation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and regulatory T-cells (Tregs) with HPV persistence in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected women.Viral Immunol. 2014 Feb;27(1):20-5. PMCID: PMC3920755
     
  6. Landay A, Golub ET, Desai S, Zhang J, Winkelman V, Anastos K, Durkin H, Young M, Villacres MC, Greenblatt RM, Norris PJ, Busch MP; Women’s Interagency HIV Study. HIV RNA levels in plasma and cervical-vaginal lavage fluid in elite controllers and HAART recipients. AIDS. 2014 Mar 13;28(5):739-43. PMCID: PMC4160049
     
  7. Aka PV, Kuniholm MH, Pfeiffer RM, Wang AS, Tang W, Chen S, Astemborski J, Plankey M, Villacres MC, Peters MG, Desai S, Seaberg EC, Edlin BR, Strickler HD, Thomas DL, Prokunina-Olsson L, Sharp GB, O’Brien TR. Association of the IFNL4-ΔG Allele With Impaired Spontaneous Clearance of Hepatitis C Virus. J Infect Dis. 2014 Feb 1; 209(3):350-4. PMCID: PMC3883162
     
  8. French AL, Evans CT, Agniel D,  Cohen MH, Peters M, Landay, AL and Desai S. Microbial Translocation and Liver Disease Progression in HIV/ Hepatitis C Co-infected Women.  Journal of Infectious Disease 2013 Aug 15; 208 (4):679-89. PMCID: PMC3719907
     
  9. Stapleton J, Martinson J, Klinzman D, Xiang J, Desai S, Landay A. GB virus C infection and B cell, NK cell and monocyte activation markers in HIV-infected individuals. AIDS 2013 Jul 17;27(11):1829-1832. PMCID: PMC4539006
     
  10. Stapleton J, Chaloner K, Martinson J, Zhang J, Klinzman D, Xiang J, Wallace W, Desai S, Landay A. GB virus C infection is associated with altered lymphocyte subset distribution and reduced T cell activation and proliferation in HIV-infected individuals. PLoS One. 2012; 7(11): e50563 PMCID: PMC3510065
     
  11. Keating SM, Golub ET, Nowicki M, Young M, Anastos K, Crystal H, Cohen MH, Zhang J, Greenblatt RM, Desai S, Wu S, Landay AL, Gange SJ, and Norris PJ. The effect of HIV infection and HAART on inflammatory biomarkers in a population based cohort of US women. AIDS 2011 Sep 24; 25(15):1823-32. PMCID: PMC3314300
     
  12. Desai S and Landay AL. Early immune senescence in HIV disease. Current HIV AIDS Reports Feb 2010 Vol. 7 (1) Page 4-10. PMCID: PMC3739442
     
  13. Martinson, JA, Montoya CJ, Usuga X, Ronquillo R, Landay AL, and Desai S. Chloroquine modulates HIV-1 induced plasmacytoid dendritic cell IFNα: Implication for T cell activation. Antimicrob Agent Chemother 2010, 54(2):871–881. PMCID: PMC2812138
     
  14. Ronquillo R, Desai S, Norris, PJ. Golub E, Greenblatt, R Gange S, and Landay A. Elevated caspase-3 expression and T cell activation in elite suppressors. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2010 May 1; 54(1):110-1. PMCID: PMC3228601
     
  15. Desai S, Chaparro A, Liu H, Scott G, Haslett P, Pahwa R, and Pahwa S. Impaired CCR7 expression on plasmacytoid dendritic cells in HIV infected children and adolescents with immunological and virologic failure. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 2007; 45: 501–507. PMID: 17468665
     
  16. Ida J, Shrestha N, Desai S, Pahwa S, Hanekom W, and Haslett PAJ. A whole blood assay to assess peripheral blood dendritic cell function in response to Toll-like Receptor signaling. Journal of Immunological Methods 2006, 310, 86-99. PMID: 16455104