Amol Suryawanshi

Bio

Amol Suryawanshi is a tenured Associate Professor of Immunology in the Department of Population Health and Pathobiology at the College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University. Dr. Suryawanshi obtained his PhD in 2011 from the College of Veterinary Medicine, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA. He completed his postdoctoral studies at Emory Vaccine Center, Emory School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, and Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University, Augusta, GA. In 2015, Dr. Suryawanshi joined AbbVie Inc., Worcester, MA, as a Senior Scientist where he worked on identifying and characterizing novel monoclonal antibodies targeting myeloid cells for developing novel Ab-based immunotherapies and antibody drug conjugates for autoimmunity and cancer indications. In 2018, Dr. Suryawanshi joined as an Assistant Professor of Immunology at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University where he was tenured and promoted as an Associate Professor in 2024.

His NIH-funded research program at NCSU focuses on viral immunopathology, ocular immunity, and inflammation, and how viral pathogens such as herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) regulate myeloid cell biology to evade anti-viral immunity. Specifically, the research program aims to identify how HSV-1 modulates immunoregulatory signaling pathways in macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells (DCs) to evade innate anti-viral immunity (type I and III interferon or IFN responses) and regulate T cell (CD4⁺ helper T cells and cytotoxic CD8⁺ T cell or CTL) responses. A second part of his research program focuses on studying similar immunoregulatory responses in myeloid cells during tumor progression and how tumors evade anti-tumor immunity by modulating macrophages and dendritic cells in the tumor microenvironment. The overall goal of the Suryawanshi Lab is to understand molecular and cellular networks driving immune evasion during chronic viral infections and tumor progression and develop novel targeted immunotherapies to promote anti-viral and anti-tumor immunity.

Area(s) of Expertise

Corneal HSV-1 Infection, latency, and recurrent herpetic stromal keratitis (HSK)
Innate IFN responses
Myeloid Cell Immunobiology (macrophages, dendritic cells, and neutrophils)
T cells (Th1, Th17, Tregs, and CTLs)
Anti-viral Immunity and Immunopathology
Anti-tumor Immunity
Autoimmune disease mouse models (DSS colitis and EAE)
Immunotherapy