Rate My Professor Sanja Arandjelovic

Sanja Arandjelovic, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, affiliated with the Center for Immunity, Inflammation and Regenerative Medicine. She received her BS in Molecular Biology and Physiology from the University of Belgrade in Serbia and her PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics from the University of Virginia. Following postdoctoral training in Immunology at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, she served as a Research Scientist in Immunology at the University of Virginia prior to her faculty appointment. Her research disciplines include Experimental Pathology, Immunology, and Neuroimmunology.

The Arandjelovic laboratory examines cell clearance processes, with a focus on efferocytosis, in the context of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, using rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis as model systems. Current projects investigate the tissue-specific functions of the engulfment regulator ELMO1 in neutrophils and its association with arthritis susceptibility via the human SNP rs11984075, as well as the identity of phagocytes, the nature of cleared cells, and the therapeutic potential of modulating engulfment pathways in RA and MS. Recent studies have identified macrophages as key inducers of fibrosis in systemic scleroderma models. She has secured major funding, including the 2022 Gale “Morrie” Granger Fellowship Award ($100,000) from the Arthritis National Research Foundation for apoptotic cell removal in inflammatory arthritis, and two 2023 NIH grants totaling $2.5 million: an R01 ($2 million, five years) on neutrophil-mediated pathology in arthritis and an R21 ($500,000, one year) on efferocytosis in inflammatory arthritis. Notable publications include “Phagocytosis of apoptotic cells in homeostasis” (Nature Immunology, 2015), “A noncanonical role for the engulfment gene ELMO1 in neutrophil biology during inflammation” (Journal of Experimental Medicine, 2019), “ELMO1 signaling is a promoter of osteoclast function and bone loss” (Nature Communications, 2021), and “Apoptotic cell clearance components in inflammatory arthritis” (Immunological Reviews, 2023). Her work has garnered over 3,400 citations.