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Payal Damani-Yokota, PhDAfter finishing her BS/MS at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken (NJ), Payal worked as an immuno-chemist at MSKCC in the Melanoma Tumor Vaccines group led by Drs. Philip O Livingston and Govind Ragupathi with close collaborations to synthesize adjuvants with (the late) Dr. David Y. Gin group on a number of projects.
Payal continued her scientific journey at UMass-Amherst to get her PhD in the Mol & Cell Bio program under the tutelage of Dr. Cynthia Baldwin. With her thesis focus on development and functions of γδ T cells, Payal and Cyndie developed unique tools for evaluating the single cell gene transcription of γδ T cell specific hybrid PRR/Co-receptors, WC1. In 2018, Payal joined #TeamKhanna as a postdoctoral fellow. Since, she has been investigating the distinct functions of lung-resident macrophages and their underlying mechanisms in a variety of models. Fun Fact: A bonafide Jersey girl, Payal loves coffee and time-travel movies. Tweets @payalyokota, blogs for Oncobites (writer and editor 2018-20), co-organizes annual Inspire Science Symposium (at NYU 2020,21) and is the founder/organizer of the global #GdTcellclub Webinar series (2022-present). www.payalyokota.com Postdoc funding: Imm & Infection, T32 (2019, 2020) NRSA/NIH/NHLBI, F32 (2021) Vilcek Fellowship, 2022 Bernard Levine Fellowship, 2023 |
Selected Publications
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2022
Damani-Yokota P, Zhang F, Gillespie A, Park H, Burnside A, Telfer JC and Baldwin CL. Transcriptional programming and gene regulation in WC1+ γδ T cell subpopulations. Mol Immunol. 2022 Feb: Vol 142; p50-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molimm.2021.12.016 Chen F et al. Helminth resistance is mediated by differential activation of recruited monocyte-derived alveolar macrophages and arginine depletion. Cell Reports. 2022; 38(2), 1033-1035. 2021 Damani-Yokota P, Yeung ST, Khanna KM. Beyond neutralization for BNT162b2 mRNA vaccination. Cell Host Microbe. 2021 Jul 14;29(7):1033-1035. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2021.06.013. PMID: 34265240; PMCID: PMC8279510. Baldwin CL, Damani-Yokota P, Yirsaw A, Loonie K, Teixeira AF, Gillespie A. Special features of γδ T cells in ruminants. Mol Immunol. 2021 Jun;134:161-169. doi: 10.1016/j.molimm.2021.02.028. Epub 2021 Mar 26. PMID: 33774521. until 2020 Ural BB, Yeung ST, Damani-Yokota P, Devlin JC, de Vries M, Vera-Licona P, Samji T, Sawai CM, Jang G, Perez OA, Pham Q, Maher L, Loke P, Dittmann M, Reizis B, Khanna KM. Identification of a nerve-associated, lung-resident interstitial macrophage subset with distinct localization and immunoregulatory properties. Sci Immunol. 2020 Mar 27;5(45):eaax8756. doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aax8756.PMID: 32220976 Baldwin CL, Yirsaw A, Gillespie A, Le Page L, Zhang F, Damani-Yokota P, Telfer JC. γδ T cells in livestock: Responses to pathogens and vaccine potential. Transbound Emerg Dis. 2020 Jul;67 Suppl 2:119-128. doi: 10.1111/tbed.13328. Epub 2019 Sep 12.PMID: 31515956 Damani-Yokota P, Gillespie A, Pasman Y, Merico D, Connelley TK, Kaushik A, Baldwin CL. Bovine T cell receptors and γδ WC1 co-receptor transcriptome analysis during the first month of life. Dev Comp Immunol. 2018 Nov;88:190-199. doi: 10.1016/j.dci.2018.07.023. Epub 2018 Jul 23. PMID: 30048698 Damani-Yokota P, Telfer JC, Baldwin CL. Variegated Transcription of the WC1 Hybrid PRR/Co-Receptor Genes by Individual γδ T Cells and Correlation With Pathogen Responsiveness. Front Immunol. 2018 May 7;9:717. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.00717. eCollection 2018. PMID: 29867919 |