Ramesh Selvaraj receives American Egg Board Research Award

The American Egg Board Research Award is given to the recipient who has increased the interest in research pertaining to all things related to eggs. This could include areas related to egg production, safety, product quality, or egg science technology. This is an annual award.

Ramesh Selvaraj was born in India and received his DVM and MS degree from Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, a second MS degree from Oregon State University, and his PhD degree in immunology from the University of California, Davis. After a postdoctoral research associateship at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, he joined The Ohio State University as an assistant professor in 2007. He later joined the University of Georgia in 2017.

Selvaraj’s laboratory is the first laboratory ever to identify and characterize chicken T regulatory cells. T-regulatory cells are a subset of T cells specializing in immune suppression and are involved in microbial defense, pathogen persistence, impaired vaccine responses, and compromised anti-tumor responses. A comprehensive understanding of T regulatory cells is critical not only for understanding host-pathogen interactions during infections but also for vaccine design and development. Chicken T regulatory cells were isolated based on the CD25 marker. Because anti-chicken CD25 was not available commercially, Selvaraj’s laboratory made a monoclonal anti-chicken CD25. Dr. Selvaraj holds a patent for nanoparticle vaccine delivery for Salmonella and Clostridium perfringens antigens. He has worked with several industry partners to identify the mechanism through which those products improve immune response and decrease disease severity in poultry.

Selvaraj has published approximately 75 refereed papers. He teaches Nutritional Immunology in the Animal System to graduates and undergraduates at the University of Georgia. A PSA member since 2001, he has regularly served as section program chair and judge of student presentations at the annual meetings. He is also serving as an associate editor of Poultry Science (Health and Disease) and frequently reviews manuscripts for other journals in his specialty area.