
Overview
Dr. Vijayanand’s lab employs genomics tools to understand, diagnose and treat pulmonary disease such as asthma, lung cancer and infectious diseases, including the novel coronavirus.
His laboratory has developed a number of techniques to study the molecular profiles of circulating and airway immune cells from patients with asthma and other diseases, using fewer cells than previously possible.
Dr. Vijayanand oversees a large-scale effort to map epigenomic modifications in more than a dozen different types of human immune cells from normal individuals to understand how epigenetic variations cause susceptibility to disease. For many human diseases, large-scale genomic studies have identified common genetic variants that occur more frequently in people with cardiovascular, autoimmune, inflammatory and infectious diseases, diabetes and asthma than in those without these diseases. However, it has been difficult to pinpoint which genetic changes are truly relevant to disease, or in what specific cell types the genetic variation has the largest effect on one’s health. Mapping the epigenome will enable scientists to zoom in on those genes with the greatest likelihood to contribute to disease, and the cell types in which they act, and therefore will help identify novel therapeutic targets.
Featured publications
Primary prevention of asthma in high-risk children using HDM SLIT: Assessment at age 6 years.
Identification of significant chromatin contacts from HiChIP data by FitHiChIP
Single-cell transcriptomic analysis of tissue-resident memory T cells in human lung cancer
Lab Members

Pandurangan Vijayanand, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor William K. Bowes Distinguished Professor, Center for Autoimmunity and Inflammation, Center for Cancer ImmunotherapyResearch Projects
Cancer Immunology
In 2013, Dr. Vijayanand teamed up with Professor Christian Ottensmeier at the Cancer Center, University of Southampton, UK, to
COVID-19 and T cells: Single-cell transcriptomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2-reactive CD8 + and CD4 + T cells.
As the SARS-CoV-2 related disease COVID-19 hit hard and changed the lives of every person on earth, the Vijayanand
Epigenetics
The Vijayanand lab has a strong interest in understanding the role of T cell enhancers (epigenetics players) in asthma,
Genetics of Human Diseases
While an enormous number of genetic variants have been associated with risk for human disease, how these variants affect
Human Immune Profiling Consortium
The aim of this work, in collaboration with Bjoern Peters, Ph.D., and Pandurangan Vijayanand, M.D., Ph.D., is to characterize the
T cell biology and Asthma
The Vijayanand lab employs genomic and epigenomic tools to understand the molecular basis of asthma, making key contributions in
From the lab

LJI asthma researcher Jermaine Khumalo receives AAI Intersect Fellowship
New fellowship will support data science and immunology cross-training in two pioneering LJI labs

A closer look at T cells reveals big differences in mild vs. severe COVID-19 cases
New research highlights the enormous variability in how T cells respond to the deadly virus

New 3D maps reveal inner workings of immune cell gene expression
LJI scientists track down control elements that govern gene expression from a distance
Awards & Honors
- 2007 National Career Development Fellowship