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Rajesh Kumar Radhakrishnan, Ph.D.

Assistant research professor, Division of Infectious Diseases
Department of Internal Medicine

Education

Ph.D.

Research Interests

Rajesh Kumar Radhakrishnan investigates neonatal tuberculosis and neonatal BCG vaccination to elucidate host immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. His research focuses on understanding early-life immunity and mechanisms that contribute to protection or susceptibility to tuberculosis (TB).

In addition, Radhakrishnan studies tuberculosis and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) co-morbidity using mouse models with the goal of defining how metabolic disease influences immune responses and TB disease outcomes.

Radhakrishnan also received award from RePORT international cross consortium (RiCC) to study metabolites mediated inflammation in T2DM patients with TB.

Publications and Media Placements

Recent Publications

  • Vankayalapati A, Somasundram B, Paidipally P, Singh KP, Vankayalapati R, Radhakrishnan RK. B cells inhibit IL-1 family cytokine production and Mycobacterium tuberculosis growth in human CD14+ cells. Immunohorizons. 2025 Nov 9;9(11). doi: 10.1093/immhor/vlaf046. PubMed PMID: 41208111; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC12597884. 
  • Durojaye O, Vankayalapati A, Paidipally P, Mukherjee T, Vankayalapati R, Radhakrishnan RK. Lung-resident CD3-NK1.1+CD69+CD103+ Cells Play an Important Role in Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Vaccine-Induced Protective Immunity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection. J Immunol. 2024 Sep 1;213(5):669-677. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2200728. PubMed PMID: 39007739. 
  • Vankayalapati A, Durojaye O, Mukherjee T, Paidipally P, Owusu-Afriyie B, Vankayalapati R, Radhakrishnan RK. Metabolic changes enhance necroptosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus mice infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. PLoS Pathog. 2024 May;20(5):e1012148. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1012148. eCollection 2024 May. PubMed PMID: 38728367; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11086854. 
  • Yang B, Mukherjee T, Radhakrishnan R, Paidipally P, Ansari D, John S, Vankayalapati R, Tripathi D, Yi G. HIV-Differentiated Metabolite N-Acetyl-L-Alanine Dysregulates Human Natural Killer Cell Responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Apr 14;24(8). doi: 10.3390/ijms24087267. PubMed PMID: 37108430; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10138430. 
  • Tripathi D, Devalraju KP, Neela VSK, Mukherjee T, Paidipally P, Radhakrishnan RK, Dozmorov I, Vankayalapati A, Ansari MS, Mallidi V, Bogam AK, Singh KP, Samten B, Valluri VL, Vankayalapati R. Metabolites enhance innate resistance to human Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. JCI Insight. 2022 Nov 22;7(22). doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.152357. PubMed PMID: 36509283; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9746823. 
  • Devalraju KP, Tripathi D, Neela VSK, Paidipally P, Radhakrishnan RK, Singh KP, Ansari MS, Jaeger M, Netea-Maier RT, Netea MG, Park S, Cheng SY, Valluri VL, Vankayalapati R. Reduced thyroxine production in young household contacts of tuberculosis patients increases active tuberculosis disease risk. JCI Insight. 2021 Jul 8;6(13). doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.148271. PubMed PMID: 34236051; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8410087. 
  • Radhakrishnan RK, Thandi RS, Tripathi D, Paidipally P, McAllister MK, Mulik S, Samten B, Vankayalapati R. BCG vaccination reduces the mortality of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected type 2 diabetes mellitus mice. JCI Insight. 2020 Mar 12;5(5). doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.133788. PubMed PMID: 32161191; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7141407.