Amit Jairaman
Assistant Project Scientist, Dept. of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California, Irvine
Biography
Amit Jairaman, MBBS, Ph.D., is Assistant Project Scientist in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at the University of California, Irvine. A biomedical researcher with expertise in intracellular calcium signaling, Jairaman focuses on understanding the role of calcium signals in innate and adaptive immune cell function. His current research examines the role of regulatory T cells in autoimmune neuroinflammation and the function of mechanosensing Piezo1 channels in the anti-tumor activity of T cells.
Jairaman's research contributions span multiple areas of cellular immunology and calcium signaling. His work has demonstrated that Piezo1 channels specifically shape regulatory T cell behavior through TGFβ signaling pathways, characterized the effects of TREM2 deletion on calcium responses in human microglia and their implications for Alzheimer's disease, and elucidated the inhibitory effects of regulatory T cells on Th17 calcium signaling during neuroinflammation. He has also contributed to understanding store-operated calcium entry proteins in airway epithelial responses to allergens and damage signals, and developed methods for in situ characterization of genetically encoded calcium probes in T cells.
Prior to his current position, Jairaman completed postdoctoral training at the University of California, Irvine under Michael D. Cahalan and at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and served as a postdoctoral fellow at Kasturba Medical College in Manipal, India. He received his Ph.D. from the Driskill Graduate Program in Life Sciences at Northwestern University in 2015, where he studied store-operated calcium signaling mechanisms under Murali Prakriya.
Return to topEducation
- Ph.D. in Life Sciences, Northwestern University, 2015
- MMST in Medical Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, 2006
- MBBS in Medicine and Surgery, Stanley Medical College, 2002
Distinctions
- Pioneer Postdoctoral Fellowship, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 2016
- Hewitt Foundation Fellowship, 2016-2019
- Graduate Fellowship, Biomedical Engineering Department, Northwestern University, 2007-2008
- SSP Merit Scholarship, Salem Steel Plant, 1996-2001
Areas of Expertise
- Immune Cell Calcium Signaling
- Store-Operated Calcium Entry Mechanisms
- Regulatory T Cell Function
- Airway Epithelial Inflammation
- Piezo1 Mechanotransduction in Lymphocytes
- Microglial Purinergic Receptor Dynamics
- Mevalonate Pathway Autoinflammation
Recent Publications
- A Jairaman, V Baldhigar, S Raj, KV Nair, S Balan, DL Narayanan, “A novel homozygous variant in phosphomevalonate kinase causes enhanced IL1β secretion and a hyper-IgD syndrome like-phenotype”, Clinical Genetics, vol. 105, no. 3, pp. 302-307, 2024.
- A Jairaman, M Prakriya, “Calcium signaling in airway epithelial cells: current Understanding and implications for inflammatory airway disease” (opens in new tab), Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 772-783, 2024.
- McQuade A., Kang Y.J., Hasselmann J., Jairaman A., Sotelo A., Coburn M., Shabestari S.K., Chadarevian J.P., Fote G., Tu C.H., Danhash E., Silva J., Martinez E., Cotman C., Prieto G.A., Thompson L.M., Steffan J.S., Smith I., Davtyan H., Cahalan M., et al., “Author Correction: Gene expression and functional deficits underlie TREM2-knockout microglia responses in human models of Alzheimer’s disease (Nature Communications, (2020), 11, 1, (5370), 10.1038/s41467-020-19227-5)” (opens in new tab), Nature Communications, vol. 14, 2023.
- A Jairaman, A McQuade, A Granzotto, YJ Kang, JP Chadarevian, S Gandhi, I Parker, I Smith, H Cho, SL Sensi, S Othy, M Blurton-Jones, MD Cahalan, “TREM2 regulates purinergic receptor mediated calcium signaling and motility in human iPSC-derived microglia” (opens in new tab), eLife, vol. 11, pp. e73021, 2022.
- C Claes, WE England, EP Danhash, S Kiani Shabestari, A Jairaman, JP Chadarevian, J Hasselmann, AP Tsai, MA Coburn, J Sanchez, TE Lim, JLS Hidalgo, C Tu, MD Cahalan, BT Lamb, GE Landreth, RC Spitale, M Blurton-Jones, H Davtyan, “The P522R protective variant of PLCG2 promotes the expression of antigen presentation genes by human microglia in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model” (opens in new tab), Alzheimer S and Dementia, vol. 18, pp. 1765-1778, 2022.
- H Atcha, A Jairaman, EL Evans, MM Pathak, MD Cahalan, WF Liu, “Ion channel mediated mechanotransduction in immune cells” (opens in new tab), Current Opinion in Solid State and Materials Science, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 100951, 2021.
- Jairaman A, Cahalan MD, “Calcium imaging in T lymphocytes: a protocol for use with genetically encoded or chemical Ca²⁺ indicators” (opens in new tab), Bio-protocol, vol. 11, no. 19, pp. e4170, 2021.
- Kountz TS, Jairaman A, Kountz CD, Stauderman KA, Schleimer RP, Prakriya M, “Differential regulation of ATP- and UTP- evoked Prostaglandin E2 and IL-6 production from human airway epithelial cells” (opens in new tab), Journal of Immunology, vol. 207, no. 5, pp. 1275-1287, 2021.
- Jairaman A, Othy S, Dynes JL, Yeromin AV, Zavala A, Greenberg ML, Nourse JL, Holt JR, Cahalan SM, Parker I, Pathak MM, Cahalan MD, “Piezo1 channels restrain regulatory T cell polarization but are dispensable for effector CD4+ T cell responses” (opens in new tab), Science Advances, vol. 7, no. 28, pp. eabg5859, 2021.
- Atcha H, Jairaman A, Holt JR, Meli VS, Nagalla RR, Veerasubramanian PK, Brumm KT, Lim HE, Othy S, Cahalan MD, Pathak MM, Liu WF, “Mechanically activated ion channel Piezo1 modulates macrophage polarization and stiffness sensing” (opens in new tab), Nature Communications, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 3256, 2021.
- Mcquade A, Kang YJ, Hasselmann J, Jairaman A, Sotelo A, Coburn M, Shabestari SK, Chadarevian JP, Foge T, Tu CH, Danhash E, Silva J, Martinez E, Cotman C, Prieto GA, Thompson LM, Steffan JS, Smith I, Davtyan H, Cahalan MD, et al., “Gene expression and functional deficits underlie TREM2-knockout microglia responses in human models of Alzheimer's disease” (opens in new tab), Nature Communications, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 5370, 2020.
- Othy S, Jairaman A, Dynes JL, Dong TX, Tune C, Yeromin AV, Zavala A, Akunwafo C, Chen F, Parker I, Cahalan MD, “Regulatory T cells suppress Th17 cell Ca²⁺ signaling in the spinal cord during murine autoimmune neuroinflammation” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 117, no. 33, pp. 20088-99, 2020.
- Soberanes S, Misharin AV, Jairaman A, Morales-Nebreda L, McQuattie-Pimentel AC, Cho T, Hamanaka RB, Meliton AY, Reyfman PA, Walter JM, Chen CI, Chi M, Chiu S, Gonzalez-Gonzalez FJ, Antalek M, Abdala-Valencia H, Chiarella SE, Sun KA, Woods PS, Ghio AJ, et al., “Metformin targets mitochondrial electron transport to reduce air pollution induced thrombosis” (opens in new tab), Cell Metabolism, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 335-347.e5, 2019.
- Soberanes S., Misharin A.V., Jairaman A., Morales-Nebreda L., McQuattie-Pimentel A.C., Cho T., Hamanaka R.B., Meliton A.Y., Reyfman P.A., Walter J.M., Chen C.-I., Chi M., Chiu S., Gonzalez-Gonzalez F.J., Antalek M., Abdala-Valencia H., Chiarella S.E., Sun K.A., Woods P.S., Ghio A.J., et al., “Erratum: Metformin Targets Mitochondrial Electron Transport to Reduce Air-Pollution-Induced Thrombosis (Cell Metabolism (2019) 29(2) (335–347.e5), (S1550413118305862) (10.1016/j.cmet.2018.09.019))” (opens in new tab), Cell Metabolism, vol. 29, pp. 503, 2019.
- Dong TX, Othy S, Greenberg ML, Jairaman A, Akunwafo C, Leverrier S, Yu Y, Parker I, Dynes JL, Cahalan MD, “Intermittent Calcium signals mediated by Orai1 regulate basal T cell motility” (opens in new tab), Elife, vol. 6, pp. e27827, 2017.
- Dong TX, Othy S, Jairaman A, Skupsky J, Zavala A, Parker I, Dynes JL, Cahalan MD, “T cell calcium dynamics visualized in a ratiometric tdTomato- GCaMP6f transgenic reporter mouse” (opens in new tab), Elife, vol. 6, pp. e32417, 2017.
- Jairaman A, Maguire C, Schleimer RP, Prakriya M, “Allergens stimulate store-operated calcium entry and cytokine production in airway epithelial cells” (opens in new tab), Scientific Reports, vol. 6, pp. 32311, 2016.
- Jairaman A, Yamashita M, Schleimer RP, Prakriya M, “Store-operated CRAC channels regulate PAR2-mediated Ca2+ signaling and cytokine production in airway epithelial cells” (opens in new tab), Journal of Immunology, vol. 195, no. 5, pp. 2122-33, 2015.
- Maus M, Jairaman A, Stathopulos P, Muik M, Fahrner M, Weidinger C, Benson M, Fuchs S, Ehl S, Romanin C, Ikura M, Prakriya M, Feske S, “Mis-sense mutation in immunodeficient patient shows the multifunctional role of coiled-coil domain 3 (CC3) in STIM1 activation” (opens in new tab), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 112, no. 19, pp. 6206-11, 2015.
- Jairaman A, Prakriya M, “Molecular pharmacology of store-operated CRAC channels” (opens in new tab), Channels (Austin), vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 402-414, 2013.
Most Cited Publications
- Sena LA, Li S, Jairaman A, Prakriya M, Ezponda T, Hildeman DA, Wang CR, Schumacker PT, Licht JD, Perlman H, Bryce PJ, Chandel NS, “Mitochondria are required for antigen-specific T-cell activation through ROS signaling” (opens in new tab), Immunity, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 225-36, 2013.
- Mungai PT, Waypa GB, Jairaman A, Prakriya M, Dokic D, Ball MK, Schumacker PT, “Hypoxia triggers AMPK activation through reactive oxygen species-mediated activation of calcium release-activated calcium channels” (opens in new tab), Molecular and Cellular Biology, vol. 31, no. 17, pp. 3531-45, 2011.
- Xu SZ, Sukumar P, Zeng F, Li J, Jairaman A, English A, Naylor J, Ciurtin C, Majeed Y, Milligan CJ, Bahnasi YM, Al-Shawaf E, Porter KE, Jiang LH, Emery P, Sivaprasadarao A, Beech DJ, “TRPC channel activation by extracellular thioredoxin” (opens in new tab), Nature, vol. 451, no. 7174, pp. 69-72, 2008.
- McCarl CA, Khalil S, Ma J, Oh-hora M, Yamashita M, Roether J, Kawasaki T, Jairaman A, Sasaki Y, Prakriya M, Feske S, “Store-operated calcium entry through orai1 is critical for T-cell mediated autoimmunity and allograft rejection” (opens in new tab), Journal of Immunology, vol. 185, no. 10, pp. 5845-58, 2010.
- McNally BA, Somasundaram A, Jairaman A, Yamashita M, Prakriya M, “The C- and N-terminal STIM1 binding sites on Orai1 are required for both trapping and gating CRAC channels” (opens in new tab), Journal of Physiology, vol. 591, no. 11, pp. 2833-50, 2013.
Contact Information
Email: ajairama@uci.edu
Phone: (949) 824-6754
Address: 285 Irvine Hall, Irvine, CA 92697-4560
Return to topThis profile was created with the help of AI.
Last updated on 2/17/2026.