University of California-Los Angeles · PharmacologyMonkeypox Ocular Research Lab
Vaithilingaraja Arumugaswami · Los Angeles, California
Research Focus
Dr. Arumugaswami's lab focuses on understanding monkeypox virus, particularly how it affects the eyes, leading to serious conditions like keratitis and corneal opacity. They explore both the viral mechanisms that enable the monkeypox virus to evade the immune system and the host responses that occur during infection. The ultimate goal is to find new potential therapies to treat ocular complications caused by this virus.
Monkeypoxocular pathologyviral evolutioninnate immune responsekinase inhibitorsantiviral therapy
Research Aims
3AIM 01Investigate the susceptibility of different ocular cell types to the monkeypox virus.
AIM 02Characterize viral genes that evade the innate immune system, specifically the STING pathway.
AIM 03Study the pathogenesis of ocular monkeypox in mouse models and evaluate potential antiviral compounds.
Skills the Lab Values
cell culturemouse modelsgenomic analysisin vitro infection assaysprotein analysisinflammatory response assessmentimmunohistochemistryRNA extractionviral replication techniques
Output against the department
Publications153bottom 43% of dept.264th of 462
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations4.5kbottom 34% of dept.305th of 462
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.