• Managed and supported large multi-departmental projects that demonstrated protective immune response against bacterial infection and lung injury in ARDS and ventilator-associated pneumonia patients• Partnered with cross-functional clinical, research and vendor teams to deliver inter-lab projects on time and within budget by proactively managing the dependencies and mitigating risks• Collaborated with physicians and research coordinators to arrange and study endotracheal aspirate (ETA) samples from ICU patients with pneumonia to determine the gene targets and pathways associated with bacterial pneumonia.• Performed single cell RNA-seq based screening to identify gene signatures for neutrophil heterogeneity resulting in functional variability among different neutrophil subpopulations.

• Accomplished scientist and trainer with strong interpersonal skills and established track record of conceptualizing, acquiring, managing, and successfully completing multiple projects within scheduled time resulting in successful research publications and grant fundings from NIH worth $2 million.• Participated in a grant application as a co-investigator to the NIH titled “A 3D Biomimetic Model of The Human Airway to Study Host Pathogen Interactions” with a total requested budget of 8 million dollars over a 5-year period.• Led a team as Project Manager of 1 post-doc and 2 research assistants to conduct a study with experimental planning, execution, data analysis, writing manuscript and culminating in successful grant submission and publications.• Co-ordinated and communicated with physicians and research coordinators to organize blood collection, preservation, and isolation of PBMCs and plasma from sepsis and ARDS patients with or without pneumonia. • Identified a novel anti-viral effect of IL-22 that can be harnessed to prevent RSV-induced severe respiratory disease lading the foundation of a new clinical trial using IL-22 in Covid-19 to lower the burden of SARS-CoV2 in infected patients.• Investigated biological significance of IL-22 signaling in epithelial cells through promotion of STAT3 dependent cellular autophagy by blocking subversion of LC3B by RSV.• Trained and mentored 2 research assistants and 5 undergraduate students; 2 of them successfully transitioned to medical school.• Peer-reviewed scientific manuscripts by invitation for 9 prestigious journals and selected as an editor for 2 of them.

• Actively participated in executing experimental plans and deliverables in timely fashion to acquire a multidisciplinary, long-term research program (PO1 grant) involving groups of investigators with an overall budget of $8 million.• Developed new experimental protocols, tackled challenging scientific problems, performed experiments, analyzed large data sets, communicated results and further steps to principal investigators and collaborating laboratories.• Exchanged scientific expertise and key liaison for 3 independent projects.• Collaborated, coordinated and communicated with physicians and research coordinators to arrange and study nasal swabs from children with various degrees of RSV infection (PICU vs non-PICU) to understand the relevance of gene signature with disease severity.• Identified a pathogenic role for IL-17+γδ T cells in the context of CX3CR1 deficiency in early life when adaptive immunity has not yet reached full maturity.• Demonstrated for the first time how a genetic aberration may increase the risk for severe disease after RSV infection suggesting that severe illness in infants harboring I249M280 mutation in CX3CR1 can be alleviated by targeting IL-17R to block unwarranted inflammatory effects.

• Demonstrated flexibility and adjusting capabilities by relocating to a lab in Poland where English was not a primary speaking language.• Evaluated mechanistic aspects and role of metalloprotease ADAM17 in host immune suppression and promotion of tumor motility, progression and angiogenesis through neuregulin-1 in a mouse colon carcinoma model.• Gained experience in animal handling and developing mouse melanoma and colon carcinoma models.• Trained in modified protein development and purification.