Dr. Smita S. Iyer is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology with a research program focused on T cell determinants of immunity, pathogenesis, and tissue regeneration.

Trained in biochemistry and regenerative medicine, she has more than a decade of experience dissecting immune pathways that drive injury and repair. Her early work on redox regulation of inflammation and stem cell–mediated regeneration established the mechanistic foundation for later discoveries in T cell biology, including how nutritional stress shapes memory CD8 homeostasis and how adhesion molecules modulate steatohepatitis. More recently, she has applied these insights across mouse, primate, and human systems, defining how CCR7⁺ CD4 T cell immunosurveillance is disrupted in neuroinflammation.

As Founder and CEO of SyntherionBio, Dr. Iyer aligns academic innovation with business development to translate mechanistic discoveries into therapeutic strategies. She has received multiple competitive commercialization awards from the University of Pittsburgh to advance SyntherionBio’s pipeline, underscoring her role as an emerging leader in academic entrepreneurship. Her combined scientific and entrepreneurial expertise uniquely positions her to direct the company’s strategy and drive IND-enabling studies.