Cristina Penaranda, PhD Ask a Question Refer Patient Cristina Penaranda, PhD, is a researcher at National Jewish Health. Dr. Penaranda is in the Department of Immunology and Genomic Medicine. Assistant Professor Department of Immunology and Genomic Medicine 5280 Top Doctors 2022 Previously a 5280 Top Doctor America’s Top Doctors 2015 — Castle Connolly, Medical, Ltd. Recognized in America’s Top Doctors — Castle Connolly, Inc. Best Doctors in America® 2019-2020 — Best Doctors, Inc. Recognized in Best Doctors in America® — Best Doctors, Inc. America’s Top Doctors 2020 — Castle Connolly Medical, Ltd. Email Profile Print Profile Overview Contact Info & Locations Research Areas Bacterial infections Host Pathogen Interactions Pseudomonas aeruginosa Special Interests Our lab studies host-pathogen interactions with the goal of defining host and bacterial pathways involved in bacterial persistence. Bacterial interactions with the host involve dynamic exchanges where heterogeneity from both sides can lead to many different outcomes. Persistence occurs when the pathogen evades the host immune response and the host is unable to clear the invading pathogen, resulting in stable bacterial colonization. Individuals with persistent infections often do not respond to long-term or repeated appropriate antibiotic treatment and, importantly, serve as reservoirs for the development of antibiotic resistance. We do not understand why certain infections progress to persistence while others do not. Moreover, the host pathways that lead to persistence have remained an under explored area of investigation. We hypothesize that bacterial persistence within a host is the result of a complex interplay of specific host and pathogen molecular pathways and that understanding these pathways will allow harnessing host immunity to shift the balance from persistence to clearance of infections. Our lab utilizes transcriptional analysis at the single cell level and functional perturbations of both the host and the pathogen to understand how persistence is established and maintained. Education Education 2005 - 2010 University of California, San Francisco , PhD in Immunology 2000 - 2004 Ohio University, Athens, OH, BS in Biological Sciences Fellowship 2012 - 2018 Massachusetts General Hospital and Broad Institute, Boston, MA, Post-doctoral fellow Awards & Recognition 2005 -2010: National Institute for General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) fellow Publications Penaranda C, Chumbler NM, Hung DT. (2021) Dual transcriptional analysis reveals adaptation of host and pathogen to intracellular survival of Pseudomonas aeruginosa associated with urinary tract infection. PLOS Pathogens. 17(4): e1009534. Betin V*, Penaranda C*#, Bandyopadhyay N, Yang R, Abitua A, Bhattacharyya RP, Fan A, Avraham R, Livny J, Shoresh N, Hung DT#. (2019) Hybridization-based capture of pathogen mRNA enables paired host-pathogen transcriptional analysis. Sci Rep. 9, 19244. *Co-first author #Co-corresponding author Avraham R, Haseley N, Brown D, Penaranda C, Jijon HB, Trombetta JJ, Satija R, Shalek AK, Xavier R, Regev A, Hung DT. (2015) Pathogen cell-to-cell variability drives heterogeneity in host immune responses. Cell. 162(6):1309-21. Kuswanto W, Hofmann J, Kenefeck R, Narendran P, Walker LSK, Bluestone JA, Abbas AK, Dooms H. (2012) Interleukin-7 promotes autoimmune diabetes by suppressing PD-1 mediated inhibition of effector/memory T cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 109: 12668-12673. Penaranda C, Tang Q, Bluestone JA. (2011) Anti-CD3 therapy promotes tolerance by selectively depleting pathogenic cells while preserving regulatory T cells. J Immunol. 187:2015-22. Academic Affiliations Department of Immunology & Microbiology, University of Colorado-Denver Anschutz Medical Campus Ask a Question through Patient Portal Sign in to your My National Jewish Health patient portal account to communicate with your care team, manage appointments, and more. Create an Account Contact Information Office: 303-398-1158 Email: penarandac@njhealth.org Patient Ratings The Patient Rating score is an average of all responses to care provider related questions on our independent rating system, the Press Ganey Patient Satisfaction Survey. This survey is about the patient care experience and does not address crucial characteristics like medical decision-making, prescribing the best therapy, and patient outcomes. Responses are measured on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best score. Learn more about our patient satisfaction survey. Comments Comments are collected in our Press Ganey Patient Satisfaction Surveys. Patients are de-identified to protect confidentiality and patient privacy. Learn more about our patient satisfaction survey.