Vanitha S. Raman, PhD

Scientist I

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Vanitha S. Raman's interest in public health and vaccine development brought her to IDRI originally as a post-doctoral fellow in 2006. Vanitha’s research interest lies mainly on interactions between the innate and adaptive immune systems. She is currently evaluating novel adjuvant formulations to use these interactions for making effective vaccines in both prophylactic and therapeutic settings. Vanitha is involved in the vaccine development program against leprosy, malaria and leishmaniasis. 

Vanitha originally hails from India, and obtained a BSc Zoology degree from the University of Madras in 1995. In 1997, she obtained her Msc in Life Sciences from Pondicherry Central University. She then went on to perform her graduate studies in the National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi under the supervision of Dr. Anna George. Vanitha’s graduate work focused on the role of CD27 during B cell differentiation, culminating in her thesis titled “Analysis of the factors that regulate B cell differentiation.” Vanitha continued her work on B cells as a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Randy Noelle, Dartmouth University, where she studied the role of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in B cell differentiation.