B-cell biology and T-B collaboration

Research Overview

The Pillai lab has made fundamental discoveries about immune cells called B lymphocytes. This work has led to novel treatments currently in use in patients with B cell leukemias and autoimmune diseases. This laboratory also studies how immune cells can “go rogue” in autoimmune diseases like systemic sclerosis and IgG4-related disease, in patients with genetic disorders of the immune system, and in COVID-19 and other severe viral infections and uses the knowledge gained to collaborate with colleagues on clinical trials.

The Pillai lab explores the contributions of B cells to the development and function of T follicular helper cells and cytotoxic CD4+ T cells. We study these cells and their subsets in the context of inflammatory diseases like systemic sclerosis, IgG4-related disease, atherosclerosis, and COVID-19. We also explore how chromatin changes, including DNA methylation, influence B and T cell lymphocyte development, and B cell-T cell collaboration and immune function. We are interested in the development of subsets of T follicular helper cells and how alterations in T and B cell collaboration can drive different types of memory B cell responses, alter the durability of antibody responses, and may be of causal importance in severe infections like COVID-19.  We also investigate how novel single-gene mutations in humans alter regulatory T cell function and lead to a breakdown in B cell tolerance and thus cause autoimmunity.

Recognition and Media

Dr. Pillai received the Indian National Science Academy Medal for Young Scientists in 1980 and the Irving London Award for Excellence in Teaching, HST, from the Harvard Medical School in 2001. He received a Thomas McMahon mentoring award, from Harvard Medical School in 2013 and was named Harvard Crimson Professor of the Year in 2017. He directs an NIAID Autoimmune Center of Excellence at MGH. Dr. Pillai is a member of the American Association of Immunologists and the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies.

About

Dr. Pillai received his medical degree at the Christian Medical College in Vellore, India, and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Calcutta, working with Bimal Bachhawat. He was a postdoctoral fellow with David Baltimore at the Whitehead Institute and MIT and joined the faculty at MGH and the Harvard Medical School in 1988. Shiv is the author of “Lymphocyte Development” and the co-author with Abul Abbas and Andrew Lichtman of “Cellular and Molecular Immunology” and “Basic Immunology.” He heads the Harvard Immunology PhD and Masters' programs and directs courses in immunology at Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies, and the HMX platform.