Karthik Hullahalli
Loyola University Chicago, IL·Microbiology & Immunology·Early-career
When bacteria invade, the body fights back with inflammation. Too much inflammation, though, harms the body itself.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Pharmacology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
sepsis
bacterial infection
inflammation
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2028
What they work on
- Define how broadly nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs, approved antiviral drugs) reduce harmful inflammation across diverse bacterial infection settings in mice, beyond E. coli bloodstream infection.
- Test whether Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling, a standard bacteria-sensing pathway, drives the switching on of endogenous retroviruses (ERVs, virus remnants in the genome) during bacterial infection.
- Test whether ERV reverse transcriptases make DNA or RNA:DNA hybrids that activate nucleic acid sensors and drive inflammatory cytokine production, and whether NRTIs act by blocking this step.
More about the research
Its most lethal form is sepsis, an overreaction of the immune system across the whole body that kills millions of people every year, and new treatments have stalled for decades. This research asks how the body senses infection and amplifies inflammation, and whether existing drugs could calm that response.
Why it matters
Sepsis kills millions of people a year and lacks effective new therapies. If reverse transcriptase inhibitors calm harmful inflammation across many bacterial infections, these already-approved drugs could be explored as treatments for sepsis and other inflammatory infectious diseases. The work could also reveal that virus-derived elements, which make up about 40% of our genome, are unrecognized amplifiers of inflammation.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Wei Cheng
University of Michigan, MI·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine how the density of proteins displayed on virus-like particles controls B cell activation, using the lab's model particulate antigens in vivo and in vitro.
Yohei Kirino
Thomas Jefferson University, PA·Biochemistry
Determine how RNase Kappa, a newly found enzyme that makes cyclic phosphate-containing RNAs, and two cP-RNA-stabilizing proteins control cP-RNA levels, using cP-RNA-seq.
Steven Boeynaems
Baylor College of Medicine, TX·Neuroscience·Early-career
Define the biophysical rules by which neuropathological proteins form condensates with nucleic acids that mimic antimicrobial peptides and boost Toll-like receptor immune signaling, using in vitro biophysical approaches.
The school
Loyola University Chicago: 8 labs on PI Pages, $61M a year on research, 156 research doctorates a year.
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