Dr. Shabaana Khader is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology at the University of Chicago. She discusses how the immune system responds to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, why tuberculosis remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, and the challenges of developing more effective vaccines. She highlights the role of lung-resident immunity, including Th17 responses and lymphoid structures, in controlling infection, and explains how advances in our understanding of host–pathogen interactions are guiding the design of next-generation TB vaccines.

Personalized HPV Cancer Vaccine – A multifunctional nanovaccine combining HPV antigens, tumor membranes, and bacterial adjuvants generates durable anti-tumor immunity against HPV-associated cervical cancer.

HIV Rewires T Cell Identity – HIV can reprogram infected CD4+ T cells into CD8+ T cells, revealing a previously unrecognized component of the viral reservoir.

Decoding Acute Pancreatitis – A single-cell atlas of severe acute pancreatitis identifies a TNF-α–driven immune-endothelial circuit that causes microvascular failure and disease progression.

Discovery of Ruptoblasts – A newly discovered cell type, the ruptoblast, protects planarians through an explosive cytotoxic mechanism termed ruptosis.

Image courtesy of Dr. Shabaana Khader

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