Education

Post-doctoral Fellowship, National Jewish Health

Post-doctoral Fellowship, Yale University School of Medicine

PhD, University of Minnesota, 2001

MPhil, University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka)

DVM, University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka), 1992

Research Interest

Pathogenesis of Pulmonary Diseases: The overall research goal of the Lung Biology Lab is to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for neutrophil recruitment, priming, and activation in infected lungs, smoke-exposed lungs, and smoke-exposed lungs and organs followed by infection in the lungs and other organs/tissues. In particular, the Lung Biology Lab is interested in determining the role of pattern recognition receptors (TLRs and NLRs) and their adaptors with the development of the innate immune response in the lung in murine models. Multiple bacterial pathogens that are studied include: Klebsiella pneumoniae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Legionella pneumophila, as causative pathogens of pneumonia. Specific interests of the respiratory disease group include: 1) Delineation of the role of pattern recognition receptors (Toll-like and NOD-like) and neutrophil chemokines, CXCL1, CXCL2, and CXCL5, in lung inflammation and host defense; 2) Elucidation of the mechanisms by which second-hand smoke makes the host susceptible to bacterial infection; 3) Determination of the host defense mechanisms associated with sepsis/septic peritonitis; and 4) Examination of the role of mouse lung-derived stem cells in host protection during bacterial pneumonia. Appropriate gene-deficient mice and human and murine primary cells are currently being used. In addition, non-human primate (NHP) models of bacterial lung infection are being developed with the collaboration of Tulane National Primate Center (TNPRC). The ultimate goal of the basic and translation program is to resolve the mechanisms by which these bacterial pathogens cause inflammation in various tissues, and ultimately to design novel treatments and prevention strategies to attenuate inflammation-mediated injury and/or minimize microbial burden.

Pathogenesis of Sepsis: The overall goal of this research is to understand the molecular and cellular immunological mechanisms associated with sepsis. We are particularly interested in innate immune molecules, such as TLRs, NLRs and chemokines in the induction of sepsis.  

Teaching Interest

I am actively involved in teaching Veterinary Medical students in Bacteriology, Mycology and Immunology, and Graduate students in Grant Writing Course. 

Awards & Honors

2023, NIH Pre-doctoral Award (John Le)

2023, Andrew Lackner Mentoring Award

2021, Shock Society Executive Council Member

2021, LSU STEM Best Poster Presentation Award (Pilar Ruiz)

2020, American Thoracic Society Journals Eminent Reviewer Award

2020, LSU Rainmaker Award (Senior Scholar)

2020, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Distinguished Dissertation Award (Laxman Ghimire)

2019, Director of Center for Lung Biology and Disease

2019, Dr. William L. Jenkins Endowed Professorship

2019, LSU Best Undergraduate Researcher Award (Joseph DeCorte)

2019, LSU Top Tiger Twelve Undergraduate Award (Joseph DeCorte)

2018, AHA Postdoctoral Award (Liliang JIn)

2017, Best Undergraduate Poster Award at Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (Joselyn Knowling)

2017, NIH Predoctoral Award (Sagar Paudel)

2015, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Distinguished Thesis Award (Mary Leissinger)

2014, LSU School of Veterinary Medicine Distinguished Dissertation Award (Bala Theivanthiran)

2013, Dean's Teaching Merit Honor Roll

2013, Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award

2011, Pfizer Award for Research Excellence

2002, James Hudson Brown – Alexander B. Coxe postdoctoral fellowship

2001, Student Leadershio Award

2000, Elizabeth Atac Award for Best Basic Science Research

1999, Don Kahn Award in Immunology 

Publications

Host defense against Klebsiella pneumoniae pneumonia is augmented by lung-derived mesenchymal stem cells , Rangasamy, Tirumalai; Ghimire, laxman; Paudel, Sagar; Le, John; Periasamy, Sivakumar; Paudel, Sagar; Cai, Shanshan; Jeyaseelan, Samithamby, 2021, Journal of Immunology (In Press) , Volume: 207, Number: 4, Pages: 1112-7

Role of an anti-aging molecule in a toxic lifestyle: Relevance for alcohol effects on sepsis., Jeansonne, Duane; Jeyaseelan, Samithamby, 2021, Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research , Volume: 45, Number: 5, Pages: 912-915

NLRP6 modulates neutrophil homeostasis in bacterial pneumonia-derived sepsis, Cai, Shanshan; Paudel, Sagar; Jin, Liliang; Ghimire, Laxman; Taylor, Christopher; Wakamatsu, Nobuko; Bhattarai, Dinesh; Jeyaseelan, Samithamby, 2020, Mucosal Immunology , Volume: xx, Number: doi: 10.1038/s41385-020-00357-4

Tristetraprolin Overexpression in Non-hematopoietic Cells Protects Against Acute Lung Injury in Mice., Choudhary, I; Vo, T; Bathula, C; Lamichhane, R; Lewis, B; Looper, Jayme; Jeyaseelan, Samithamby; Blackshear, P; Saini, Yogesh; Patial, Sonika, 2020, Frontiers in immunology , Volume: 11, Pages: 2164

The NLRP6 Inflammasome in Health and Disease, Ghimire, Laxman; Paudel, Sagar; Jin, Liliang; jeyaseelan, Samithamby, 2020, Mucosal Immunology , Volume: 13, Number: 3, Pages: 388-398

CXCL1 Regulates Neutrophil Homeostasis in Pneumonia-Derived Sepsis Caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae Serotype 3, Paudel, Sagar; Baral, Pankaj; Ghimire, Laxman; Bergeron, Scott; Jin, Liliang; DeCorte, Joseph; Lee, Joh; Cai, Shanshan; Jeyaseelan, Samithamby, 2019, Blood , Volume: 133, Number: 12, Pages: 1335-45

NLRP6 negatively regulates pulmonary host defense in Gram-positive bacterial infection through modulating neutrophil recruitment and function, Ghimire, Laxman; Pauel, Sagar; Jin, Liliang; Baral, Pankaj; Cai, Shanshan; Jeyaseelan, Samithamby, 2018, PLoS Pathogens , Volume: 14, Number: 9, Pages: e1007308

NLRC4 suppresses IL-17A-mediated neutrophil-dependent host defense through upregulation of IL-18 and induction of necroptosis during Gram-positive pneumonia, Paudel, Sagar; Ghimire, Laxman; Jin, Liliang; Baral, Pankaj; Cai, Shanshan; Jeyaseelan, Samithamby, 2018, Mucosal Immunology , Pages: In Press

Emerging Roles of Inflammasomes in Acute Pneumonia, Ravi Kumar, Sangeetha; Paudel, Sagar; Ghimire, Laxman; Bergeron, Scott; Cai, Shanshan; Zemans, Rachel; Downey, Gregory; Jeyaseelan, Samithamby, 2018, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine , Volume: 197, Number: 2, Pages: 160-71

Diminished neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation is a novel innate immune deficiency induced by acute ethanol exposure in polymicrobial sepsis, which can be rescued by CXCL1., Jin, Liliang; Batra, Sanjay; Jeyaseelan, Samithamby, 2017, PLoS Pathogens , Volume: 13, Pages: e1006637 

All Publications in PubMed

Google Scholar

Grant Funding

Inflammatory Organ Injury after Pneumonia-Derived Sepsis (Principal Investigator), NIH.

Host Immunity in Sepsis-Induced Systemic Infection (Principal Investigator), NIH, $0.00

Center for Lung Biology and Disease (Principal Investigator), National Institutes of Health, $11,530,336.00

Role of AC7 and alcohol in innate immune responses during bacterial infection, NIH, $145,120.00

Innate Immunity in Lung Infection-Induced Sepsis (Principal Investigator), NIH, $2,927,440.00

Innate Immunity in Pneumonic Sepsis (Co-Investigator); PI: Shanshan Cai, NIH, $1,850,300.00

NLRP6 in Bacterial Pneumonia (Sponsor); PI: Liliang Jin, American Heart Association (AHA), $106,000.00 Role of Innate Immunity in Pneumonic Sepsis (Sponsor); PI; Sagar Paudel, NIH, $109,000.00

Role of Lung Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Pneumonia-Induced Sepsis (Principal Investigator), NIH, $407,000.00

Neutrophil Function in Bacterial Pneumonia (Principal Investigator), NIH, $1,858,300.00

CRC-specific near-IR agent for tumor imaging (Co-Investigator); PO: Graca Vicente, NIH, $1,256,000.00 NOD-Like Receptor Signaling is Critical to Secondhand Smoke-Induced Innate Immune Responses (Mentor), NIH, $542,500.00

Neutrophil Accumulation in Bacterial Pneumonia (Principal Investigator), NIH, $1,860,000.00

NALP6 Inflammasome is Critical to Cigarette Smoke-induced Airway Inflammation (Mentor), FAMRI, $525,500.00

Secondhand Smoke Promotes Antibiotic Resistance & Virulence in Upper Airway Bacteria: A Novel Mechanism for Secondhand SmokeInduced Airway Diseases (Mentor), FAMRI, $217,000.00

Suppression of Neutrophil Immunity by Smoke (Principal Investigator), FAMRI, $325,500.00