Nadia Roan, PhD

Senior Investigator, Gladstone Institutes
Professor
Department of Urology
+1 415 734-4883
Research Description: 

The Roan Lab studies how intracellular and extracellular factors in the tissue microenvironment can affect infection by HIV, mucosal immunity, and reproductive health. We have demonstrated that genital and rectal fibroblasts, amongst the most abundant cells of the mucosa, potently increase HIV infection of T cells through at least two distinct mechanisms: promoting viral entry, and altering the cellular state of T cells to render them more permissive to viral replication. To characterize the molecular basis of how intrinsic and extrinsic perturbations can render some subsets of CD4+ T cells more susceptible than others to HIV infection, we are using a variety of global gene expression analysis approaches, including CyTOF and RNA-seq. These approaches are also being used to characterize the HIV latent reservoir and the nature of viral rebound upon antiretroviral treatment interruption. Another research interest in the lab is to understand how factors in seminal plasma affect reproductive health and susceptibility to sexually transmitted diseases.

Primary Thematic Area: 
Virology & Microbial Pathogenesis
Secondary Thematic Area: 
Immunology
Research Summary: 
Our lab applies single-cell analysis approaches on in vitro and clinical specimens to study the interplay between immune cells & viral pathogens including HIV & SARS-CoV-2, & to study the properties of immune cells in mucosal tissues in health & disease

Websites

Featured Publications: 

Mass Cytometric Analysis of HIV Entry, Replication, and Remodeling in Tissue CD4+ T Cells.

Cell reports

Cavrois M, Banerjee T, Mukherjee G, Raman N, Hussien R, Rodriguez BA, Vasquez J, Spitzer MH, Lazarus NH, Jones JJ, Ochsenbauer C, McCune JM, Butcher EC, Arvin AM, Sen N, Greene WC, Roan NR

Semen amyloids participate in spermatozoa selection and clearance.

eLife

Roan NR, Sandi-Monroy N, Kohgadai N, Usmani SM, Hamil KG, Neidleman J, Montano M, Ständker L, Röcker A, Cavrois M, Rosen J, Marson K, Smith JF, Pilcher CD, Gagsteiger F, Sakk O, O'Rand M, Lishko PV, Kirchhoff F, Münch J, Greene WC

Mucosal stromal fibroblasts markedly enhance HIV infection of CD4+ T cells.

PLoS pathogens

Neidleman JA, Chen JC, Kohgadai N, Müller JA, Laustsen A, Thavachelvam K, Jang KS, Stürzel CM, Jones JJ, Ochsenbauer C, Chitre A, Somsouk M, Garcia MM, Smith JF, Greenblatt RM, Münch J, Jakobsen MR, Giudice LC, Greene WC, Roan NR

Peptides released by physiological cleavage of semen coagulum proteins form amyloids that enhance HIV infection.

Cell host & microbe

Roan NR, Müller JA, Liu H, Chu S, Arnold F, Stürzel CM, Walther P, Dong M, Witkowska HE, Kirchhoff F, Münch J, Greene WC

Monitoring the T cell response to genital tract infection.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Roan NR, Gierahn TM, Higgins DE, Starnbach MN