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Praveena Thirunavukkarasu is an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow at the Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University. She completed her M.Sc. at Madras University, India, and went on to obtain her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in 2017. Her doctoral research focused on elucidating the molecular mechanisms involved in the recognition of lipid-based antigens by a new class of Natural Killer T (NKT) cells in humans, termed atypical NKT cells. Following her PhD, she joined the Biomedicine Discovery Institute as a Research Fellow under the mentorship of Professor Jamie Rossjohn FRS, where she continues to explore the mechanisms of lipid recognition produced by the human gut microbiota in relation to NKT cells. Dr. Thirunavukkarasu has established an international reputation in the field of structural immunology, with original publications in prestigious journals such as Nature, Science, and Nature Communications. Her groundbreaking first-authored work published in Nature revealed how lipids produced by the gut microbe Bacteroides fragilis are presented to antigen-presenting cells, influencing the host's immune response. She leads a research team aimed at transforming the understanding of T-cell immunity in the context of the gut microbiome-NKT cell axis.
Monash University • Melbourne, Australia
Engaged in research on the molecular mechanisms of lipid recognition by Natural Killer T cells.
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