Hello, my name is Parth Sutariya, and I am a rising senior majoring in Biochemistry. I am also minoring in Chemistry, Economics, Sociology, and Certificate in the Conceptual Foundations of Medicine. I grew up here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and in my free time, I enjoy playing basketball, running, and have picked up playing chess as a more recent pastime.

Currently, there are more than 100 autoimmune diseases and about 50 million Americans live with one or more of these diseases. In diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, Th17 cells are attacking one’s own tissue in an excessive proinflammatory immune response. By understanding the signaling networks behind T cell fate decisions, we could create immunotherapies that target naïve CD4+ cells to reduce Th17 induction or favor regulatory T cell polarization.

This summer, I am conducting research in Dr. William Hawse’s immunology lab at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Our lab focuses on studying the mechanisms underlying T cell activation and T cell fate decision. Using extracellular receptors, T cells interact with their environment to provide immune responses against antigens. In the process, kinase and phospholipid signaling networks are activated. By further exploring how different signaling inputs alter the phosphoproteome of T cells, we can elucidate how cell fate is decided.

My project will be collecting data on differential mTOR expression in various CD4+ T cell subsets. Furthermore, I will explore how manipulating mTORC1 and mTORC2 pathways can bias certain cell fates over others. In addition, another transcription factor our lab has been working with called STAT3 has shown an important role in Th17 cell induction. Through immunoprecipitation and relative mTOR expression data from the helper T cell subsets, we can understand potential cross-talk between two different signaling networks and how the STAT3 may be playing an expanded role past activating DNA transcription.

Following my undergraduate study at Pitt, I am pursuing a career as a physician and currently applying to medical school. I hope to continue doing research as a physician-scientist and believe that the Health Sciences Research Fellowship is an amazing opportunity for me to foster that interest while interacting with peers who are studying various fields. I have not yet explored much literature in other fields and would love to see how they are conducting research and presenting their findings. The interdisciplinary communication aspect of HSRF is important in supplementing my understanding of research and informing the translation of it to clinical practice.