Moujtaba Kasmani, PhD

CD8 T cell exhaustion, bioinformatics

Research Experience

Medical College of Wisconsin, 2019-2022
Advisor: Weiguo Cui, PhD
Project: Mechanistic study of TCR signaling strength in CD8 T cell differentiation during pathogenesis of T1DM (F30DK127526) 

The University of Tulsa, 2014-2016
Advisor: Akhtar Ali, PhD
Project: Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of Wheat streak mosaic virus isolates

The University of Tulsa, 2012-2014
Advisor: Justin Chalker, DPhil
Project: Synthesis of a sulfur-free IPTG mimic to induce gene expression under oxidative stress

Publications

Khatun A*, Wu X*, Qi F, Gai K, Kharel A, Kudek MR, Fraser L, Ceicko A, Kasmani MY, Majnik A, Burns R, Chen YG, Salzman N, Taparowsky EJ, Fang D, Williams CB, Cui W. BATF is Required for Treg Homeostasis and Stability to Prevent Autoimmune Pathology. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2023 Aug 16:e2206692. doi: 10.1002/advs.202206692. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37587835.

Kudek MR, Xin G, Alson D, Holzhauer S, Shen J, Kasmani MY, Riese M, Cui W. Lymphocytic Choriomeningitis Virus Clone 13 Infection Results in CD8 T Cell-Mediated Host Mortality in Diacylglycerol Kinase α-Deficient Mice. J Immunol. 2023 May 1;210(9):1281-1291. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2101011. PMID: 36920384; PMCID: PMC10121876.

Kasmani MY*, Zander R*, Chung HK, Chen Y, Khatun A, Damo M, Topchyan P, Johnson KE, Levashova D, Burns R, Lorenz UM, Tarakanova VL, Joshi NS, Kaech SM, Cui W. Clonal lineage tracing reveals mechanisms skewing CD8+ T cell fate decisions in chronic infection. J Exp Med. 2023 Jan 2;220(1):e20220679. doi: 10.1084/jem.20220679. Epub 2022 Oct 31. PMID: 36315049; PMCID: PMC9623343.

Topchyan P, Zander R, Kasmani MY, Nguyen C, Brown A, Lin S, Burns R, Cui W. Spatial transcriptomics demonstrates the role of CD4 T cells in effector CD8 T cell differentiation during chronic viral infection. Cell Rep. 2022 Nov 29;41(9):111736. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111736. PMID: 36450262; PMCID: PMC9792173.

Zander R, Khatun A, Kasmani MY, Chen Y, Cui W. Delineating the transcriptional landscape and clonal diversity of virus-specific CD4+ T cells during chronic viral infection. Elife. 2022 Oct 18;11:e80079. doi: 10.7554/eLife.80079. PMID: 36255051; PMCID: PMC9629829.

Wu X, Khatun A, Kasmani MY, Chen Y, Zheng S, Atkinson S, Nguyen C, Burns R, Taparowsky EJ, Salzman NH, Hand TW, Cui W. Group 3 innate lymphoid cells require BATF to regulate gut homeostasis in mice. J Exp Med. 2022 Nov 7;219(11):e20211861. doi: 10.1084/jem.20211861. Epub 2022 Sep 1. PMID: 36048018; PMCID: PMC9440727.

Kasmani MY, Ciecko AE, Brown AK, Petrova G, Gorski J, Chen YG, Cui W. Autoreactive CD8 T cells in NOD mice exhibit phenotypic heterogeneity but restricted TCR gene usage. Life Sci Alliance. 2022 Jun 6;5(10):e202201503. doi: 10.26508/lsa.202201503. PMID: 35667687; PMCID: PMC9170949.

Piper C, Hainstock E, Yin-Yuan C, Chen Y, Khatun A, Kasmani MY, Evans J, Miller JA, Gorski J, Cui W, Drobyski WR. Single-cell immune profiling reveals a developmentally distinct CD4+ GM-CSF+ T-cell lineage that induces GI tract GVHD. Blood Adv. 2022 May 10;6(9):2791-2804. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2021006084. PMID: 35015822; PMCID: PMC9092418.

Zander R, Kasmani MY, Chen Y, Topchyan P, Shen J, Zheng S, Burns R, Ingram J, Cui C, Joshi N, Craft J, Zajac A, Cui W. Tfh-cell-derived interleukin 21 sustains effector CD8+ T cell responses during chronic viral infection. Immunity. 2022 Mar 8;55(3):475-493.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2022.01.018. Epub 2022 Feb 24. PMID: 35216666; PMCID: PMC8916994.

Wu X, Kasmani MY, Zheng S, Khatun A, Chen Y, Winkler W, Zander R, Burns R, Taparowsky EJ, Sun J, Cui W. BATF promotes group 2 innate lymphoid cell-mediated lung tissue protection during acute respiratory virus infection. Sci Immunol. 2022 Jan 14;7(67):eabc9934. doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abc9934. Epub 2022 Jan 14. PMID: 35030033; PMCID: PMC9005262.

Stancill JS, Kasmani MY, Khatun A, Cui W, Corbett JA. Cytokine and Nitric Oxide-Dependent Gene Regulation in Islet Endocrine and Nonendocrine Cells. Function (Oxf). 2021 Dec 1;3(1):zqab063. doi: 10.1093/function/zqab063. PMID: 34927076; PMCID: PMC8674205.

Connolly KA, Kuchroo M, Venkat A, Khatun A, Wang J, William I, Hornick NI, Fitzgerald BL, Damo M, Kasmani MY, Cui C, Fagerberg E, Monroy I, Hutchins A, Cheung JF, Foster GG, Mariuzza DL, Nader M, Zhao H, Cui W, Krishnaswamy S, Joshi NS. A reservoir of stem-like CD8+ T cells in the tumor-draining lymph node preserves the ongoing antitumor immune response. Sci Immunol. 2021 Oct;6(64):eabg7836. doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abg7836. Epub 2021 Sep 2. PMID: 34597124; PMCID: PMC8593910.

Chen Y, Shen J, Kasmani MY, Topchyan P, Cui W. Single-Cell Transcriptomics Reveals Core Regulatory Programs That Determine the Heterogeneity of Circulating and Tissue-Resident Memory CD8+ T Cells. Cells. 2021 Aug 20;10(8):2143. doi: 10.3390/cells10082143. PMID: 34440912; PMCID: PMC8392357.

Ciecko AE, Schauder DM, Foda B, Petrova G, Kasmani MY, Burns R, Lin CW, Drobyski WR, Cui W, Chen YG. Self-Renewing Islet TCF1+ CD8 T Cells Undergo IL-27-Controlled Differentiation to Become TCF1- Terminal Effectors during the Progression of Type 1 Diabetes. J Immunol. 2021 Oct 15;207(8):1990-2004. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2100362. Epub 2021 Sep 10. PMID: 34507949; PMCID: PMC8492517.

Kasmani MY, Cui W. Inhibiting BRD4 to generate BETter T cell memory. J Exp Med. 2021 Aug 2;218(8):e20210877. doi: 10.1084/jem.20210877. Epub 2021 Jun 16. PMID: 34132742; PMCID: PMC8212782.

Chen Y, Zander RA, Wu X, Schauder DM, Kasmani MY, Shen J, Zheng S, Burns R, Taparowsky EJ, Cui W. BATF regulates progenitor to cytolytic effector CD8+ T cell transition during chronic viral infection. Nat Immunol. 2021 Aug;22(8):996-1007. doi: 10.1038/s41590-021-00965-7. Epub 2021 Jul 19. PMID: 34282329.

Stancill JS, Kasmani MY, Khatun A, Cui W, Corbett JA. Single-cell RNA sequencing of mouse islets exposed to proinflammatory cytokines. Life Sci Alliance. 2021 Jun;4(6). doi: 10.26508/lsa.202000949. Print 2021 Jun. PubMed PMID: 33883217; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8091599.

Volberding PJ, Xin G, Kasmani MY, Khatun A, Brown AK, Nguyen C, Stancill JS, Martinez E, Corbett JA, Cui W. Suppressive neutrophils require PIM1 for metabolic fitness and survival during chronic viral infection. Cell Rep. 2021 May 25;35(8):109160. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109160. PubMed PMID: 34038722; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8182757.

Schauder DM, Shen J, Chen Y, Kasmani MY, Kudek MR, Burns R, Cui W. E2A-regulated epigenetic landscape promotes memory CD8 T cell differentiation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Apr 20;118(16). doi: 10.1073/pnas.2013452118. PubMed PMID: 33859041; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8072256.

Xin G, Chen Y, Topchyan P, Kasmani MY, Burns R, Volberding PJ, Wu X, Cohn A, Chen Y, Lin CW, Ho PC, Silverstein R, Dwinell MB, Cui W. Targeting PIM1-Mediated Metabolism in Myeloid Suppressor Cells to Treat Cancer. Cancer Immunol Res. 2021 Apr;9(4):454-469. doi: 10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-20-0433. Epub 2021 Feb 12. PubMed PMID: 33579728; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8137571.

Topchyan P, Xin G, Chen Y, Zheng S, Burns R, Shen J, Kasmani MY, Kudek M, Yang N, Cui W. Harnessing the IL-21-BATF Pathway in the CD8+ T Cell Anti-Tumor Response. Cancers (Basel). 2021 Mar 12;13(6). doi: 10.3390/cancers13061263. PubMed PMID: 33809259; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7998696.

Khatun A, Kasmani MY, Zander R, Schauder DM, Snook JP, Shen J, Wu X, Burns R, Chen YG, Lin CW, Williams MA, Cui W. Single-cell lineage mapping of a diverse virus-specific naive CD4 T cell repertoire. J Exp Med. 2021 Mar 1;218(3). doi: 10.1084/jem.20200650. PubMed PMID: 33201171; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7676493.

Moorman, R. M, Kasmani, M. Y, Peeples, C. J, Chalker, J. M. (2015). Inquiry-Driven Investigation of the Copper-Catalyzed Azide-Alkyne Cycloaddition in the Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Laboratory. Chem. Educator, 20, 214-219. "

Meeting Abstracts

Kasmani MY, Zander R, Chen Y, Khatun A, Damo M, Joshi NS, Cui W. Single-cell transcriptomics identifies bifurcating differentiation trajectories of endogenous virus-specific CD8 T cells. Autumn Immunology Conference. Chicago, IL. November 18-21, 2022.

Kasmani MY, Cui W, Graham MB. Ribavirin therapy for LCMV infection caused by laboratory needlestick injury. American College of Physicians, Wisconsin Chapter. Wisconsin Dells, WI. September 9, 2022.

Kasmani MY, Zander R, Chen Y, Khatun A, Damo M, Joshi NS, Cui W. Single-cell transcriptomics enables identification and lineage tracing of endogenous virus-specific CD8 T cells. Oral presentation. Autumn Immunology Conference. Chicago, IL. November 19-22, 2021.

Kasmani MY, Zander R, Chen Y, Khatun A, Damo M, Joshi NS, Cui W. Single-cell transcriptomics enables identification and lineage tracing of endogenous virus-specific CD8 T cells. Poster presentation. Cold Spring Harbor Single-Cell Analyses. Virtual meeting. November 10-12, 2021.

Kasmani MY, Ali, A. Detection of Wheat streak mosaic virus in Oklahoma. University of Tulsa/University of Oklahoma Research Colloquium. Tulsa, OK. 2016.

Kasmani MY, Schmauch MM, Bardeaux MC, Chalker JM. Investigation of recombinant protein expression under oxidative conditions. American Chemical Society. Dallas, TX. 2014.

General Interests

Reading, tea, coffee, hiking, tennis