Dr. Neelika Malavige is the Head of Dengue Global Program and Scientific Affairs at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative and a Professor in the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Her research focuses on dengue: its pathogenesis, vascular leak, immune correlates of protection, and biomarkers. She talks about the disease burden of dengue and her investigations into risk factors for severe disease. She also discusses her research on COVID-19 vaccines and the role of the microbiome in colon cancer, as well as how she’s working to grow research capabilities in Sri Lanka.

SOX17 in Colorectal Cancer – Scientists used AKP organoids to demonstrate that SOX17 orchestrates immune evasion in the early steps of colon cancer.

Tregs in Tumor Immunity – Lactate uptake by Treg cells contributes to the efficacy of CTLA-4 blockade.

Astrocytes in Autoimmunity – Researchers identified astrocyte-derived heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor as a potential therapeutic target in multiple sclerosis.

αβ T Cell Development – By studying patients with pre-TCRα deficiency, scientists found that pre-TCRα may not be absolutely required for αβ T cell development in humans.

Image courtesy of Dr. Neelika Malavige

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