Jatin M. Vyas

Jatin M. Vyas received his PhD in Immunology working in the laboratory of Robert Rich at the Baylor College of Medicine. After completing his MD at Baylor, he performed his internship and medical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He completed his Infectious Disease Fellowship at the MGH/BWH. He did his post-doctoral work in the laboratory of Hidde Ploegh. 

Invasive fungal infections are a leading cause of death among immunocompromised patients; thus defining the cellular and molecular mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions is critical for improving outcomes for patients with invasive fungal infections. The Vyas laboratory at the MGH focuses on the host response to pathogenic fungal organisms.  We use fungal pathogens of clinical importance including Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida albicans as the model pathogens to study innate immunity. Using live cell imaging with spinning disk confocal microscopy, we visualize cellular responses to fungi in real time. In particular, we examine the role of Carbohydrate lectin receptors (including Dectin-1), LC-3 (member of the autophagy family of proteins), Toll-like receptors, and members of the tetraspanin family during the host fungal immune response.