• Ph.D., Christian Med. College, University of Madras, India, 1984
• M.S., University of Madras, India, 1977
• B.S., SRKV Arts College, University of Madras, India, 1975

Website: http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~pselvar/

Research Interests: The main interest of our laboratory is biochemical and functional characterization of cell surface receptors involved in immune cell recognition and adhesion. Currently we focus on two projects: 1) Structure and function on Fc receptors. Fc receptors for IgG (FcgR) are involved in phagocytosis, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, and removal of immune complexes from blood circulation. FcgR III (CD16) is expressed in macrophages, granulocytes and NK cells. CD16 on granulocytes is phosphatidyl inositol glycan (GPI) anchored whereas the CD16 expressed on NK cells and macrophages is polypeptide anchored. These two membrane anchor isoforms of CD16 differ in triggering signals for tumor cell cytotoxicity and phagocytosis. Further structure-function studies will be carried out on membrane isoforms of CD16. We have also identified that the avidity state of FcgRII is regulated by cell activation. Future studies will focus on defining the molecular mechanisms involved in affinity regulation of FcgRII. 2) Development of artificial cancer cell vaccines using protein transfer. Tumors modified by transfecting genes for costimulatory cell adhesion molecules such as B7 are now considered as a potential therapeutic tumor vaccine. However, transfection is not always efficient and can be difficult with many cell types, especially freshly isolated tumor cells from patients. Moreover, transfection of genes requires the introduction of vectors of viral origin which is not desirable for human therapeutic purposes. Studies have shown that purified GPI-anchored cell surface proteins can be spontaneously incorporated into membranes by incubating the proteins with the cells or cell membranes. This unique property can be used to reconstitute cell surface expression receptors on cell membranes without the use of gene transfection. Using recombinant techniques, we have constructed and expressed GPI-B7 on tumor cell membranes. This method could be developed to use as an individual therapy or in conjunction with gene therapy. In the long term the knowledge obtained from this study could be used to develop an 'artificial cell vaccine to treat cancer.