Kodi Ravichandran

The Ravichandran group studies the molecules and mechanisms involved in how we remove billions of cells that turnover daily in our bodies, the mechanisms by which this clearance process is regulated during homeostasis, and how impairments in this process can influence a variety of inflammatory diseases.

Dr. Kodi Ravichandran obtained his degree in Veterinary Medicine from Madras Veterinary College (Chennai, India) in 1987. During the last two years of Veterinary School, he became interested in the molecular biology of cellular processes, and how specific drugs function at a molecular level. This led to pursuing a PhD in Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in the United States. For his doctoral work, he addressed how temporal gene expression and antibody specificities contribute toward the repertoire of B lymphocytes in various lymphoid organs in mice. Dr. Ravichandran then moved to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School to pursue his post-doctoral research under the guidance of Dr. Steven Burakoff. Here, he focused on intracellular signaling in T cells, and specifically addressed the role of adapter proteins. In 1996, he moved to University of Virginia as Assistant Professor to establish his independent laboratory. He is currently the Harrison Distinguished Professor and the Chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology.