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Pathology Welcomes Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam

May 13, 2015

Pathology Welcomes Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam

Dr. Mangalam received his B.S. degree in Biology from Lucknow University, India, and his Ph.D. in Immunology from the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, India. Ashutosh did his postdoctoral training with Drs. Chella David and Moses Rodriguez in the Department of Immunology at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

During his postdoctoral fellowship, he worked on deciphering role of HLA class II genes in susceptibility versus resistance in multiple sclerosis (MS) an inflammatory and autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. MS is linked to both genetic and environmental factors. As the HLA locus is the strongest genetic factor linked with this disease, he utilized novel humanized transgenic mice expressing different human HLA-DR or HLA-DQ alleles to authenticate the importance of these HLA molecules. His findings indicated that only HLA-DR molecules are required for disease susceptibility. To further simulate human HLA class II haplotypes, he generated double transgenic mice expressing both HLA-DR and HLA-DQ molecules, and showed that HLA-DQ molecules might be responsible for modulating the disease in a susceptible background. These initial findings were published in the European Journal of Immunology, Journal of Immunology, Journal of Autoimmunity and Advances in Immunology. Based on his excellent progress during fellowship, he was promoted to Associate Consultant in the Department of Immunology at Mayo Clinic. He extended these studies to show that HLA molecules regulate autoimmune/inflammatory diseases through the modulation of cytokines networks. These results were published as three separate articles in the Journal of Immunology and he was invited to summarize these findings in a review article by the Journal.

While analyzing one of the failed experiments in his laboratory, Ashutosh identified Prevotella histicola, a human gut-derived commensal, with potential disease suppressing properties. He received funding from the Department of Defense to test the therapeutic potential of P. histicola. This led to his entry into the exciting field of human microbiome research. Dr. Mangalam received internal funding from the Mayo Center for Individualized Medicine to study the importance of the gut microbiome in human MS patients. He was also part of the Human Microbiome Program Initiative at Mayo Clinic Rochester. His initial work on fecal microbiome profiling and serum metabolite profiling in MS patients is being finalized for publications. He believes that study of the human gut microbiome and metabolome holds great promise for better understanding of MS as well as other inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

His research program focuses on finding better treatments for MS patients. To achieve this goal his program has three components: basic research (to understand the mechanism of disease pathogenesis), clinical research (authenticate findings from lab research into MS patients) and translational research (test novel therapies in a preclinical model of MS). He brings novel tools, such as HLA class II transgenic mice expressing autoimmune susceptible and resistant genes, and human gut microbiome and metabolome analysis techniques to the University of Iowa. Dr. Mangalam's cutting edge research also provides excellent opportunities for strong collaboration with other investigators on campus and multi-investigator grantsAshutosh is married to his wife Eati, has a daughter Shivani (12) and a Havenese dog named Rocco. He loves to do to fun projects with his daughter Shivani and with any left over time he plays cricket, reads, and makes new friends, as he believes there is no substitute for human interactions. When people talk - great things happen.

Ashutosh is married to his wife Eati, has a daughter Shivani (12) and a Havenese dog named Rocco. He loves to do to fun projects with his daughter Shivani and with any left over time he plays cricket, reads, and makes new friends, as he believes there is no substitute for human interactions. When people talk - great things happen.