1. Can you please briefly summarize this paper? Lymph nodes are the major secondary lymphoid organs that play a pivotal role in initiation of innate and adaptive immune reactions. Lymph node vasculature comprises of blood and lymphatic vessels. Blood vessels and high endothelial venules (HEV) aid in lymphocyte recruitment to lymph nodes, Whereas lymph node lymphatic vessels (LNLVs) functioning as conduits of antigens, macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs) play a major role in cross presentation of antigens to T-cells and initiation of immune reactions. It is well documented that lymph node vasculature, particularly LNLVs, are positively regulated by paracrine secretion of VEGFs by B-lymphocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells. However, the negative regulator that maintains the homeostatic balance of LNLVs is unknown. Based on the absence of LNLVs in T cell zones of lymph nodes revealed by our confocal microscopic imaging, we hypothesized that T cells might be the negative regulators of LNLVs. Fortunately, our hypothesis was found to be true when we observed increased LNLV densities in different models of T cell deficiency (athymic nude mouse, antibody mediated T cell depletion, inflammation and tumor conditions). T cell adoptive transfer reduced the LNLV densities caused by T cell deficiency. Further we found that T cell secreted IFN- is the one of the major cytokine involved in LNLV reduction confirmed by IFN- deficient mice and other experiments involving bone marrow transplanted (BMT) mice involving IFN- r1-/- and WT and IFN- r1-/- and Rag-1 KO mice. In addition to the in vivo data, we also show that IFN- is a strong anti-lymphangiogenic cytokine in vitro, mediated by JAK/STAT signaling pathway. We observed that increased LNLVs in T cell deficiency augments antigen bearing DC recruitment deep into the lymph node to compensate the decreased T-cell number for proper antigen presentation. The take home summary is, T-cells maintain the homeostatic balance of LNLV density through a negative paracrine action of IFN- Can you please tell us the main difficulties you had in the laboratory work and how you overcame them? Language and communication. Though I know the basic Korean, or enough to survive in Korea, it is difficult to carry-on a scientific conversation. However, I should say I am very lucky to be at KAIST, which is becoming more English and foreigner friendly. In this regard I thank my P.I., Prof. Gou Young Koh for maintaining our lab as totally English friendly. I proudly tell my friends that our lab is one of the very few labs in KAIST that conducts weekly lab meetings and general discussions only in English from 2005 to present. My lab mates, from the day I joined this lab, have helped me with the language difficulties, particularly in translating official documents, ordering research materials etc. Thank you guys. But now one of my goals in 2011 is to improve my Korean to the extent where I can give a lab seminar in Korean. I am sure I can do it. Working style. I feel that in general, Koreans are hard-working and organized. Initially I was amazed to see students working for long hours. But over time even I acquired the Korean-work ethic. However, I am still not as good as many of my lab mates. Naturally I am slightly slow, not very organized and take time to finish things. But most of my lab members are very fast and I am always lagging behind deadlines. But now I believe I am better than before, and hope to improve further to be more organized, more fast and efficient at the same. Again Prof. Koh was very helpful in giving me valuable suggestions to improve my work, time to adjust to a Korean laboratory, and to allow me to do things at my pace. My wife, Chaya Mohan, who was also a graduate student with me, also helped me to be more organized at lab work. Research and science. To be frank, science and research was never a major problem for me. Minus a few bumps and unsolved questions during research, I never felt research was problematic at KAIST. With an excellent and ever encouraging mentor like Prof. Koh, hard work, state-of-the-art technology, research equipment, funding, material, and helpful friends around publications and good science were just a good thought or an idea away. 2. Please introduce your laboratory, university or organization, briefly. KAIST, Laboratory of Vascular Biology and Stem Cell I feel KAIST doesn't require any introduction. It is a well-known and popular institution throughout the world for its outstanding science and technology. As far as our laboratory is concerned, Prof. Koh's name speaks for the lab. However, I would like to say that our lab is one of the finest in the world in the field of vascular biology. Our lab is well known for its research in the areas of angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis. COMP-Ang-1, a soluble variant of Angiopoietin-1 developed by our lab, is widely popular. Recently our lab has introduced, DAAP (Double anti-angiogenic protein) which inhibits VEGF and Ang-2 signaling simultaneously, which can be a potential drug for tumor growth inhibition. In addition to vascular biology we have wide range of research topics like adipose biology, immunobiology and hematopoietic stem cells related aspects. Vascular biology is highly intertwined with many other areas that we cannot avoid interdisciplinary research, and I believe that the future of biomedical research is in interdisciplinary research. Other than the research and publications, as foreigner I think our lab is the most foreigner friendly lab. Mainly due to the lack of a language barrier, helpful guidance, personal care and the efforts to make foreigners feel welcomed by all the Korean members of the lab including the professor. I have no hesitation to say that our lab is a pioneer in globalizing KAIST, as our lab possesses the best conditions for foreigners to do research a few years ahead of the official KAIST reforms to make KAIST a global institute. 3. Please tell us your experiences and your thoughts related to research activities in Korea. I came to Korea in 2005 fall and joined KAIST in Prof.Koh lab. Since then, I have gained many experiences; mostly good ones with a few bad ones too. Every day is learning experience. Now I believe that being a scientist means being a student for the entire life. When I look back at what I have learned in the last 5 years, all I remember is a lot of science and fair amount of experience. But the most striking characteristics I have acquired are the desire to work hard and to always be motivated. Before, I had the notion that being intelligent or smart is primary and everything else is secondary. But now I strongly believe that hard work is primary and others secondary. I was always amazed to see the amount of motivation shown by many of the Korean undergraduate and summer students in our lab. Sometimes they were my inspiration to start or continue working for few more hours. One more important aspect which I still need to acquire is organization and systematic approach. My research experiences in Korea taught me how to be more organized and systematic and I believe that compared to 5 years back, I have improved my organization skills but am still nowhere near where Prof. Koh wanted me to be. I am still striving hard to meet his standards. I have not seen any other research culture other than Korean; I have not even seen the Indian research style, as I have not conducted any active lab research in India. But I like the Korean style of teacher-student relation where a senior teaches everything to the junior in specific detail. Passing knowledge from senior and junior students is well established and conducted in Korea and in fact, that helped me a lot to learn from my senior. Other than the time spent in the lab I always cherished the leisure time I shared outside the lab. Being a foreigner, these leisure times really helped me to feel welcome among my Korean friends and feel at home. On a lighter note, I always wondered about the amount of fear an average Korean student possesses towards the English language. Though I have not mastered English, if we look at English like any other language and not like an unbreakable monster, we can easily learn it for our regular use in science and research. Considering that world science is spoken and written in English, I think Korean students should learn to do their science in English and not in Korean to make their voices heard more loudly. Compared to countries like India, the amount of research funding given by the Korean government is commendable. Furthermore, the number of brilliant Korean scientists within Korea and also Korean scientists returning from America and other countries after higher education makes Korean science stronger than ever. With all these developments I believe that the days of Korea being the favorite destination for higher education and scientific research are not so far off. 4. Future plan? No specific plans yet. The only plan is to do good research and to contribute few drops to the ocean of science. Many people ask me where I want to go from Korea. I just smile and keep quite. I would love to work anywhere, let it be Korea, Americas, Europe or India provided I can do good research and contribute to the world of science. As of now, in Korea I have a comfortable place to work where I can bring my ideas onto the work bench and come out with results. I can only say that I am more interested in academics and would like to proceed in this line if everything goes in right way. 5. Do you have anything else that you would like to tell Korean scientists and students? I am just a beginner in research. I still have many things to learn from Korean scientists and nothing I could say in return. But for Korean students, I have a few words. I always felt there is lot of self-criticism among a section of Korean students particularly when they compare their situation to that of U.S.A. and other more developed countries. Many look down upon Korea and behave as if the only destination in the world is U.S.A. and other western countries. To them, I can only say: feel proud of your country, which is providing an opportunity to be a world class scientist. I believe hard work and creativity can be noticed from anywhere. I take this opportunity to thank Prof.Koh for being my teacher and mentor, and for everything he has done for me all these years. I thank all our lab members present and previous for their kind contributions. Last, but not the least, I want to thank my wife, Dr. Chaya Mohan, for all the moral strength she has been over the years and all my love and best wishes to my daughter, Nandana, for being a cheerful, hyperactive kid that she is. Thanks to BRIC for providing me this opportunity.
+ 더보기