Title: A novel approach to enhance protective immunity against malaria

Biography:

Sunil Joshi is an outstanding scientist, with an excellent education and background, and includes the unusual albeit valuable combination of a veterinary degree as well as a PhD degree in Structural & Cellular Immunology. He is an established cellular immunologist and employing novel applications of Quantum Energy in modulating innate immunity. He employs multi-dimensional approaches to address key issues in vaccinology and has been recipient of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenge Exploration Grant to work on Malaria Immunity.

Abstract

Dendritic cells (DCs) play a key role in the regulation of cell-mediated immunity. Hence, manipulating DCs may offer a tremendous opportunity for intervention. The unique capacity of DCs to capture and process pathogens for presentation to the immune system, combined with their capacity to express costimulatory and adhesion molecules as well as cytokines and chemokines, renders them powerful antigen-presenting cells and key regulators of the host immune response. However, pathogens, cancer, autoimmunity and aging/stress dysregulate the DCs-functions and reduce or abolish their capacity to present antigens to T cells, leading to T cell exhaustion and B cell dysfunction. In order to regulate the adaptive immune response (T and B cell functions) in various conditions, we must fine tune (balance) the cellular immune response by targeting DCs. Based on the “Principals of Quantum Energy”, I am proposing a non-thermal, non-drug procedure, to regulate dendritic cells function without adversity to the targeted DCs. The central hypothesis named as “Poke & Rippling Effect” depicts that the “Defined Single Long Exponential Decay electric pulse (SLEDep) delivered to antigen-loaded DCs can significantly enhance DC maturation and antigen-presenting function without inducing cell death, thus, triggering antigen-specific T cell priming and activation”. The SLEDep mediated modulation of DCs functions offer a high-reward approach that differs fundamentally from traditional strategies for immune intervention. If successful, this approach will yield a game-changing pathway for improving public health for many immune system-related diseases (Infectious diseases, cancer and autoimmune disorders) and overall immune functions during aging and stress conditions.