Hajera Amatullah, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pharmacology
Affiliate Member, Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology
Member, PENN-CHOP Lung Biology Institute
Member, PENN Epigenetics Institute
Department: Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics
Graduate Group Affiliations
Contact information
3600 Civic Centre Blvd.
16th floor, Room 16-104
Philadelphia, PA 19104
16th floor, Room 16-104
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Publications
Education:
BS (Biochemistry)
University of Toronto, 2009.
MPH (Occupational and Environmental Health)
University of Toronto, 2011.
PhD (Physiology)
University of Toronto, 2016.
Permanent linkBS (Biochemistry)
University of Toronto, 2009.
MPH (Occupational and Environmental Health)
University of Toronto, 2011.
PhD (Physiology)
University of Toronto, 2016.
Description of Research Expertise
Research Interests:How hosts integrate and respond to diverse environmental cues to maintain equilibrium remains a fundamental question in biology. Innate immune cells are at the forefront of responding to environmental signals, executing dynamic and specific gene programs to facilitate adaptation and ensure tissue integrity. The lab’s research program is centered on understanding how the innate immune chromatin integrates diverse local and external environmental cues to instruct context-appropriate transcriptional programs for cell identity and function and how this goes awry in complex immune disorders such as asthma, IBD, and lupus.
Selected Publications
James N Tsoporis, Hajera Amatullah, Sahil Gupta, Shehla Izhar, Amin M Ektesabi, Chirag M Vaswani, Jean-Francois Desjardins, Golam Kabir, Ana Paula Teixera Monteiro, Amir K Varkouhi, Nikolaos Kavantzas, Vasileios Salpeas, Ioannis Rizos, John C Marshall, Thomas G Parker, Howard Leong-Poi, Claudia C Dos Santos: DJ-1 Deficiency Protects against Sepsis-Induced Myocardial Depression Antioxidants (Basel) 12(3), 2023.Yanfang Peipei Zhu, Mary Speir, ZheHao Tan, Jamie Casey Lee, Cameron J Nowell, Alyce A Chen, Hajera Amatullah, Ari J Salinger, Carolyn J Huang, Gio Wu, Weiqi Peng, Kasra Askari, Eric Griffis, Majid Ghassemian, Jennifer Santini, Motti Gerlic, William B Kiosses, Sergio D Catz, Hal M Hoffman, Kimberly F Greco, Edie Weller, Paul R Thompson, Lai Ping Wong, Ruslan Sadreyev, Kate L Jeffrey, Ben A Croker : NET formation is a default epigenetic program controlled by PAD4 in apoptotic neutrophils Science Advances 2023.
McAlpine CS, Kiss MG, Zuraikat FM, Cheek D, Schiroli G, Amatullah H, Bhatti MZ, Wong LP, Poller WC, Mindur JE, Chan CT, Janssen H, Downey J, Singh S, Sadreyev RI, Nahrendorf M, Jeffrey KL, Scadden DT, Naxerova K, St-Onge M, Swirski FK: Sleep exerts lasting effects on hematopoietic stem cell function and diversity. Journal of Experimental Medicine 219(11): e20220081, November 2022 Notes: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36129517/
Fraschilla I, Amatullah H, Rahman RU, Jeffrey KL: Immune chromatin reader SP140 regulates microbiota and risk for inflammatory bowel disease. Cell Host & Microbe 30(10): 1370-1381, October 2022 Notes: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36130593/
Gupta S, Amatullah H, Tsoporis JN, Wei K, Monteiro APT, Ektesabi AM, Varkouhi AK, Vaswani CM, Formosa A, Fabro AT, Batchu SN, Fjell C, Russell JA, Walley KR, Advani A, Parker TG, Marshall JC, Rocco PRM, Fairn GD, Mak TW, Dos Santos CC: DJ-1 binds to Rubicon to Impair LC-3 Associated Phagocytosis. Cell Death Differ 29(10): 2024-2033, October 2022 Notes: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35641782/
Amatullah H, Fraschilla I, Digumarthi S, Huang J, Adiliaghdam F, Bonilla G, Wong LP, Rivard ME, Beauchamp C, Mercier V, Goyette P, Sadreyev RI, Anthony RM, Rioux JD, Jeffrey KL: Epigenetic reader SP140 loss of function drives Crohn's disease due to uncontrolled macrophage topoisomerases. Cell 18;185(17): 3232-3247, August 2022.
dos Santos CC, Amatullah H, Vaswani CM, Maron-Gutierrez T, 7 Kim M, Mei SHJ, Szaszi K, Monteiro APT, Varkouhi AK, Herreroz R, Lorente JA, Marshall JC, Rocco PRM, Marsden P, Weiss DJ, Stewart DJ, Hu P, Liles WC.: Mesenchymal Stromal (stem) Cell (MSC) Therapy Modulates miR-193b-5p Expression to Attenuate Sepsis-Induced Acute Lung Injury. European Respiratory Journal 59(1): 2004216, Jan 2022 Notes: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34112731/
Adiliaghdam F, Amatullah H, Digumarthi S, Saunders TL, Rahman RU, Wong LP, Sadreyev R, Droit L, Paquette J, Goyette P, Rioux JD, Hodin R, Mihindukulasuriya KA, Handley SA, Jeffrey KL: Human enteric viruses autonomously shape inflammatory bowel disease phenotype through divergent innate immunomodulation. Sci Immunol 70(7): eabn6660, 2022 Notes: eabn6660.
Fraschilla I, Amatullah H, Jeffrey KL: One genome, many cell states: epigenetic control of innate immunity. Curr Opin Immunol 75: 102173, 2022.
Tsoporis JN, Drosatos IA, Gupta S, Amatullah H, Izhar S, dos Santos CC, Salpeas V, Rigopoulos AG, Toumpoulis IK, Triantafyllis AS, Sakadakis E, Kavantzas N, Marshall JC, Rizos IK, Parker TG.: Cytoprotective mechanisms of DJ-1: Implications in cardiac pathophysiology. Molecules 26(13): 3795, 2021.