Chaitanya Dende, Ph.D. Assistant Professor School Medical School Department Immunology Biography Dr. Chaitanya Dende is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and also serves as the Director of the Flow Cytometry Core. Dr. Dende earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 2016 from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, under the guidance of Prof. Govindarajan Padmanaban. His doctoral work focused on understanding immune responses during malaria parasite infections. Dr. Dende then pursued postdoctoral research at UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) with Lora Hooper, where he investigated the role of retinoic acid receptor signaling in regulating gut barrier function and mucosal immunity. Dr. Dende’s research centers on understanding how environmental factors—such as dietary vitamin A and circadian rhythms—influence immune function and gut barrier integrity. His work emphasizes the crosstalk between macrophages and epithelial cells, exploring how dietary and light cues synchronize their interactions to preserve gut permeability and mucosal immunity. In addition, he studies the role of these factors in dead cell clearance and tissue homeostasis at mucosal sites. The ultimate aim of his research is to develop therapeutic approaches for immune-related conditions, particularly enteric diseases and autoimmune disorders. As the Director of the Flow Cytometry Core at UTSW, Dr. Dende provides advanced expertise in studying and analyzing immune cells, with a particular focus on mucosal and systemic immunology and the biology of lymphoid and myeloid cells. Research Interest Circadian immunity Environmental factors shaping mucosal immunity Factors regulating dead cell clearance Tissue resident macrophage biology Publications Featured Publications Preexisting helminth challenge exacerbates infection and reactivation of gammaherpesvirus in tissue resident macrophages. Zarek CM, Dende C, Coronado J, Pendse M, Dryden P, Hooper LV, Reese TA, PLoS Pathog 2023 Oct 19 10 e1011691 The gut microbiota reprograms intestinal lipid metabolism through long noncoding RNA Snhg9. Wang Y, Wang M, Chen J, Li Y, Kuang Z, Dende C, Raj P, Quinn G, Hu Z, Srinivasan T, Hassell B, Ruhn KA, Behrendt CL, Liang T, Dou X, Song Z, Hooper LV, Science 2023 Aug 381 6660 851-857 Macrophages regulate gastrointestinal motility through complement component 1q. Pendse M, De Selle H, Vo N, Quinn G, Dende C, Li Y, Salinas CN, Srinivasan T, Propheter DC, Crofts AA, Koo E, Hassell B, Ruhn KA, Raj P, Obata Y, Hooper LV, Elife 2023 Apr 12 Impact of Bead-Beating Intensity on the Genus- and Species-Level Characterization of the Gut Microbiome Using Amplicon and Complete 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing. Zhang B, Brock M, Arana C, Dende C, van Oers NS, Hooper LV, Raj P, Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2021 11 678522 Epithelial retinoic acid receptor ? regulates serum amyloid A expression and vitamin A-dependent intestinal immunity. Gattu S, Bang YJ, Pendse M, Dende C, Chara AL, Harris TA, Wang Y, Ruhn KA, Kuang Z, Sockanathan S, Hooper LV, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2019 05 116 22 10911-10916 Nanocurcumin is superior to native curcumin in preventing degenerative changes in Experimental Cerebral Malaria. Dende C, Meena J, Nagarajan P, Nagaraj VA, Panda AK, Padmanaban G, Sci Rep 2017 08 7 1 10062 Simultaneously targeting inflammatory response and parasite sequestration in brain to treat Experimental Cerebral Malaria. Dende C, Meena J, Nagarajan P, Panda AK, Rangarajan PN, Padmanaban G, Sci Rep 2015 Jul 5 12671 Curcumin-arteether combination therapy of Plasmodium berghei-infected mice prevents recrudescence through immunomodulation. Vathsala PG, Dende C, Nagaraj VA, Bhattacharya D, Das G, Rangarajan PN, Padmanaban G, PLoS One 2012 7 1 e29442 Protective effect of Phyllanthus niruri on alcohol and heated sunflower oil induced hyperlipidemia in Wistar rats. Latha P, Chaitanya D, Rukkumani R, Toxicol Mech Methods 2010 Oct 20 8 498-503 Results 1-9 of 9 1 Honors & Awards Milstein Travel & Abstract awardInternational cytokine and interferon society meeting, Cardiff University, England (2021-2021) Senior Research FellowshipCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research, India (2011-2014) Junior Research FellowshipCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research, India (2009-2011)
