Biography
I obtained a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics from the University of Virginia, before moving to the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, for a postdoctoral fellowship in Immunology, working with Dr. Kerri Mowen on the mechanisms of disease pathology in Rheumatoid Arthritis. Following postdoctoral training, I joined the laboratory of Dr. Kodi Ravichandran in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology at the University of Virginia as a Research Scientist, studying the process of dying cell clearance in Rheumatoid Arthritis. In 2020, I established my own laboratory in the Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine at the University of Virginia, focused on studying the role of dead cell clearance, also known as “efferocytosis”, in the context of inflammation, using models of Rheumatoid Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis and kidney pathology.
Research Summary:
Arandjelovic lab research focuses on cell clearance in inflammatory diseases like Rheumatoid Arthritis. Cell death by apoptosis is a physiological process that helps maintain tissue fitness. Our goal is to characterize the cellular identity of phagocytes and the molecular events that contribute to the engulfment of dead and dying cells and cell debris in autoimmune inflammation. In other words, “who” are the cleaning crew and which “tools” are they using? Our ongoing projects aim to determine the mechanisms that underlie engulfment functions in inflammatory arthritis and the therapeutic potential of cell clearance pathways in autoimmune/inflammatory settings.
Learn More:
https://med.virginia.edu/nephrology/research/sanja-arandjelovic-phd/
