News
Muthukrishnan Earns $2.7M NIH Grant to Study Immune Dysfunction in Bone Infection
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
Gowri Muthukrishnan, PhD, assistant professor in the departments of Orthopaedics and Microbiology and Immunology, has earned a $2.7 million grant from NIH to study potential diagnostic and treatment options for implant-associated bone infection.
They are one of the most serious complications in orthopaedic surgery, with Staphylococcus aureus the leading cause of persistent cases. Despite advances in surgery and antibiotic therapy, recurrent and persistent S. aureus infections remain a major challenge in orthopaedic care, and reinfection rates following orthopaedic surgery have changed little over the past several decades. There are no evidence-based clinical assessment tools to evaluate severity of bone infection that could aid clinicians in patient care. At the same time, some patients recover from asymptomatic cases on their own; Muthukrishnan and other researchers are interested in how their immune systems effectively fight the infection, as it may lead to potential new prophylactic approaches or treatments.
The NIH grant will support Muthukrishnan’s research to better understand the mechanics of implant-associated bone infection; seek a host immune biomarker that could aid clinicians predict disease severity and treatment outcomes; and explore whether drugs now used in cancer treatment could help fight bacterial bone infection.
In prior research aimed at developing clinical biomarkers, Muthukrishnan’s lab performed host studies in a humanized mouse model and found that implant-associated osteomyelitis is characterized by increases in bacterial load and bone osteolysis, along with large numbers of proliferating human T cells adjacent to purulent abscesses in the bone marrow. The high levels of immune checkpoint proteins in patients with prosthetic joint infections were particularly apparent in patients with poor outcomes, including amputation due to persistent infection and septic death.
The work confirmed that during bone infections, there is dysregulated immune function; T cells experience “exhaustion” due to constant antigenic stimulation from bacteria, which prevents them from performing their intended immune functions effectively. Muthukrishnan’s research showed that serum immune checkpoint protein levels could predict patient outcomes with 90 percent accuracy, which could help orthopedic surgeons determine whether patients should receive aggressive or conservative treatment for joint infections. A biomarker could signal the severity of infection and shed light on why some patients’ bodies fight the infection successfully while others suffer devastating complications, including arthrodesis, reinfection, amputation, and septic death.
As part of the project, Muthukrishnan will assess patients based on their T cell exhaustion profiles. The NIH award will support one of the first comprehensive investigations into T cell exhaustion as both a biomarker and therapeutic target in orthopaedic infection. Immune checkpoint pathways triggered in cancer are also activated in bone infections; the research will explore whether immune checkpoint blockade drugs approved for cancer treatment could mitigate the infection burden and reprogram exhausted T cells, restore antibacterial immunity, and improve infection control. There are more than 2600 ongoing clinical trials for the drugs, but very limited research to date on their use for bacterial infection.
As part of the project, Muthukrishnan will collaborate with orthopedic surgeons to collect bone marrow samples during revision surgeries to analyze T cell exhaustion phenotypes.
“We hypothesize that persistent S. aureus infections cause impairment of CD4+ Th1/Th17 cells and can be leveraged as a functional biomarker of S. aureus implant-associated osteomyelitis disease outcome,” Muthukrishnan said.
Ultimately, Muthukrishnan aims to develop a simple blood test to help determine whether patients should receive aggressive or conservative treatment, and whether the FDA-approved checkpoint blockade drugs could become a standard of care for bone infections.
Calvin Cole, Zach Sechrist: Mentorship That Shapes the Whole Scientist
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
From the Faculty Focus Newsletter, Education Update
In this episode of Learners on Location, the assistant professor of Surgical Oncology and the fifth-year Pathology PhD candidate demonstrate how mentorship goes far beyond the lab. Their approach, grounded in wellness, growth, and purpose, demonstrate how personal wellbeing can lead to meaningful scientific impact.
Where's Wilmot's Director: Exploring the Cancer Microenvironment with Dr. Yeh's Lab
Friday, April 10, 2026
In April's installment of "Where's Wilmot's Director?", Dr. Jonathan Friedberg visted Shu-Chi (Allison) Yeh's lab in the CMSR. Dr. Friedberg met with Dr. Yeh and her multidisciplinary team to learn more about their insights and use of innovative technology in investigating the cancer microenvironment, a reasearch area of strength at Wilmot with new translational opportunities.
Click here to read more about Dr. Friedberg's visit to the Yeh Lab.
Gregg Nicandri Tapped to Lead New Digital Strategy & Innovation Office
Friday, March 20, 2026
URMC CEO David Linehan has named UR Medicine’s Chief Medical Information Officer Gregg Nicandri, MD, to lead the office as its inaugural Chief Digital & Innovation Officer (CDIO), charged with advancing an enterprise digital strategy to ensure innovation and execution are tightly aligned and positioned to deliver meaningful impact.
“We’re not running to catch up but leading the future,” said the new Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, who will work to advance an enterprise digital strategy, moving quickly and with intention to innovate and execute for meaningful impact. Linehan noted Nicandri’s experience has prepared him to forge our digital future. “He has worked tirelessly to develop innovative provider enablement tools to improve wellbeing by freeing up the time spent on administrative tasks to allow more quality face-to-face interactions with patients,” Linehan said.
Read about Dr. Nicandri's plans to propel the digital future of URMC.
Collaborative Effort Expands Upon Study Linking Taurine to Cancer
Friday, January 23, 2026
In a groundbreaking basic science study last year, researchers discovered that taurine, available in energy drinks and as a supplement, feeds the growth of leukemia stem cells. A new study recently published by the same Wilmot Cancer Institute team expands that work and suggests that as taurine fuels leukemia, it becomes less available for other normal cells and may result in weaker bones in mice.
The bone marrow microenvironment is key to the latest research from the Bajaj lab, and has been a longtime focus of scientists who are members of Wilmot’s Cancer Microenvironment (CM) research program. Not only do many types of cancer, including leukemia, develop in the bone marrow, but the interactions and signaling between all cells and tissues in the bone marrow environment are critical for normal bone and blood development, while also supporting cancer.
PhD candidate Christina M. Kaszuba, a student in the University of Rochester Biomedical Engineering graduate program, led this project. She works exclusively in the Bajaj lab studying cells and components of the bone that contribute to cancer development, with the goal of finding new cancer drugs.
Bajaj is an assistant professor of Biomedical Genetics and a recipient of an American Society of Hematology Scholar Award and Leukemia Research Foundation New Investigator Award.
The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NH) is the result of a broad collaboration that also includes Laura Calvi, MD, professor of Medicine and co-director of the CM research program; Jane Liesveld, MD, professor of Medicine; Hani Awad, PhD, professor of Orthopedics; Roman Eliseev, MD, PhD, associate professor of Orthopedics; and teams at the University of Rochester Center for Musculoskeletal Research and Wilmot Shared Resources.