Bio

Honors & Awards

  • Distinguished Military Graduate, Department of the Army (June 2017)
  • Highest Departmental Honors, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCLA (June 2017)
  • Dean?s Prize Science Award for Excellence in Research, UCLA URC-Sciences (May 2017)

Professional Affiliations and Activities

  • Member, Infectious Diseases Society of America (2019 - Present)
  • Member, American Society for Investigative Pathology (2018 - Present)

Membership Organizations

  • IDIG: Infectious Diseases Interest Group, Co-Founder

Education & Certifications

  • Bachelor of Science, University of California Los Angeles (2017)

Publications

All Publications

  • Proinflammatory IgG Fc structures in patients with severe COVID-19 Nature Immunology Chakraborty, S., Gonzales, J., Edwards, K., Mallajosyulla, V., Buzzanco, A. S., Sherwood, R., Buffone, C., Kathale, N., Providenza, S., Xie, M. M., Andrews, J. R., Blish, C. A., Singh, U., Dugan, H., Wilson, P. C., Pham, T. D., Boyd, S. D., Nadeau, K. C., Pinsky, B. A., Zhang, S., Memoli, M. J., Taubenberger, J. K., Morales, T., Schapiro, J. M., Tan, G. S., et al 2020

    View details for DOI 10.1038/s41590-020-00828-7

  • Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections display specific IgG Fc structures. medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences Chakraborty, S., Edwards, K., Buzzanco, A. S., Memoli, M. J., Sherwood, R., Mallajosyula, V., Xie, M. M., Gonzalez, J., Buffone, C., Kathale, N., Providenza, S., Jagannathan, P., Andrews, J. R., Blish, C. A., Krammer, F., Dugan, H., Wilson, P. C., Pham, T. D., Boyd, S. D., Zhang, S., Taubenberger, J. K., Morales, T., Schapiro, J. M., Parsonnet, J., Wang, T. T. 2020

    Abstract

    The ongoing severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has caused a public health crisis that is exacerbated by our poor understanding of correlates of immunity. SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), with a spectrum of symptoms ranging from asymptomatic carriage to life threatening pneumonia and cytokine dysregulation [1-3]. Although antibodies have been shown in a variety of in vitro assays to promote coronavirus infections through mechanisms requiring interactions between IgG antibodies and Fc gamma receptors (Fc?Rs), the relevance of these observations to coronavirus infections in humans is not known [4-7]. In light of ongoing clinical trials examining convalescent serum therapy for COVID-19 patients and expedited SARS-CoV-2 vaccine testing in humans, it is essential to clarify the role of antibodies in the pathogenesis of COVID-19. Here we show that adults with PCR-diagnosed COVID-19 produce IgG antibodies with a specific Fc domain repertoire that is characterized by reduced fucosylation, a modification that enhances interactions with the activating Fc?R, Fc?RIIIa. Fc fucosylation was reduced when compared with SARS-CoV-2-seropositive children and relative to adults with symptomatic influenza virus infections. These results demonstrate an antibody correlate of symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infections in adults and have implications for novel therapeutic strategies targeting Fc?RIIIa pathways.

    View details for DOI 10.1101/2020.05.15.20103341

    View details for PubMedID 32511463

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC7252581

  • HSP70 Copurifies with Zika Virus Particles VIROLOGY Khachatoorian, R., Cohn, W., Buzzanco, A., Riahi, R., Arumugaswami, V., Dasgupta, A., Whitelegge, J. P., French, S. W. 2018; 522: 228?33

    Abstract

    Zika virus (ZIKV) has been identified as a cause of neurologic diseases in infants and Guillain-Barré?Syndrome, and currently, no therapeutics or vaccines are approved. In this study, we sought to identify potential host proteins interacting with ZIKV particles to gain better insights into viral infectivity. Viral particles were purified through density-gradient centrifugation and subsequently, size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). Mass spectrometric analyses revealed viral envelope protein and HSP70 to comigrate in only one SEC fraction. Neither of these proteins were found in any other SEC fractions. We then performed neutralization assays and found that incubating viral particles with antibody against HSP70 indeed significantly reduced viral infectivity, while HSC70 antibody did not. Preincubating cells with recombinant HSP70 also decreased viral infectivity. Knockdown and inhibition of HSP70 also significantly diminished viral production. These results implicate HSP70 in the pathogenesis of ZIKV and identify HSP70 as a potential host therapeutic target against ZIKV infection.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.virol.2018.07.009

    View details for Web of Science ID 000442062700024

    View details for PubMedID 30053656

  • Prediction of Histologic Alcoholic Hepatitis Based on Clinical Presentation Limits the Need for Liver Biopsy HEPATOLOGY COMMUNICATIONS Roth, N. C., Saberi, B., Macklin, J., Kanel, G., French, S. W., Govindarajan, S., Buzzanco, A. S., Stolz, A. A., Donovan, J. A., Kaplowitz, N. 2017; 1 (10): 1070?84

    Abstract

    The clinical presentation of alcoholic hepatitis (AH) can be mimicked by other alcoholic liver diseases. The aim of this study was to identify clinical features that predict AH on liver biopsy. Biopsies from patients hospitalized for presumed severe AH were used to identify a derivation cohort (101 patients) and validation cohort (71 patients). Using histologic scores for hepatocyte ballooning, Mallory-Denk bodies, and lobular inflammation, 95 patient biopsies (55%) were classified as definite AH, 55 (32%) as possible AH, and 22 (13%) as no AH. Survival was similar among the groups, but mortality was significantly increased for patients with fatty change ?50% on initial liver biopsy. An analysis limited to uninfected patients with definite AH or no AH in the derivation cohort identified a greater leukocyte count at admission and radiographic evidence of liver surface nodularity as independent predictors of definite AH on biopsy (P < 0.05). In the derivation cohort, the leukocyte count thresholds for ensuring 100% specificity for diagnosing definite AH were 10 × 109/L if the liver surface was nodular and 14 × 109/L if the liver surface was smooth, with a sensitivity of 76% and an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 0.88. In the validation cohort, these thresholds had a specificity of 86%, a sensitivity of 59%, and an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of 0.72. Conclusion: The combination of an elevated leukocyte count and a nodular liver surface in the absence of active infection retrospectively identified patients with a high likelihood of histologic AH for whom liver biopsy may not be necessary. For patients with suspected severe AH who do not fulfill these criteria, liver biopsy is important to exclude other variants of alcoholic liver disease. (Hepatology Communications 2017;1:1070-1084).

    View details for DOI 10.1002/hep4.1119

    View details for Web of Science ID 000453177500008

    View details for PubMedID 29404443

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5721404

  • Digital quantitation of HCC-associated stem cell markers and protein quality control factors using tissue arrays of human liver sections EXPERIMENTAL AND MOLECULAR PATHOLOGY Buzzanco, A., Gomez, A., Rodriguez, E., French, B. A., Tillman, B. A., Chang, S., Ganapathy, E., Junrungsee, S., Zarrinpar, A., Agopian, V. G., Naini, B. V., French, S. W., French, S. W. 2014; 97 (3): 399?410

    Abstract

    The most common type of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), affects over 500,000 people in the world. In the present study, liver tumor resections were used to prepare tissue arrays to examine the intensity of fluorescence of IHC stained stem cell markers in liver tissue from malignant HCC tumors and accompanying surrounding non-tumor liver. We hypothesized that a correlation exists between the fluorescence intensity of IHC stained HCC and surrounding non-tumor liver compared to liver tissue from a completely normal liver. 120 liver resection specimens (including four normal controls) were placed on a single slide to make a tissue array. They were examined by digitally quantifying the intensity of fluorescence using immuno-histochemically stained stem cell markers and protein quality control proteins. The stem cell markers were OCT3/4, Nanog, CD133, pEZH2, CD49F and SOX2. The protein quality control proteins were FAT10, UBA-6 and ubiquitin. The data collected was used to compare normal liver tissue with HCCs and parent liver tissue resected surgically using antibodies to stem cell markers and quality control protein markers. The measurements of the stem cell marker CD133 indicated an increase of fluorescence intensity for both the parent liver tissue and the HCC liver tissues. The other stem cell markers changed as follows: Nanog and OCT3/4 were decreased in both the HCCs and the parent livers; PEZH2 was reduced in the HCCs; SOX2 was increased in the parent livers compared to the controls; and CD49f was decreased in HCCs only. Protein quality control markers FAT10 and ubiquitin were downregulated in both the HCCs and the adjacent non-tumor tissue compared to the controls. UBA6 was increased in both the HCCs and the parent livers, and the levels were higher in the HCCs compared to the parent livers.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.yexmp.2014.09.002

    View details for Web of Science ID 000346685700012

    View details for PubMedID 25218810

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4262606

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