Dr. Suniti Bhaumik obtained her Ph.D. in Immunology from the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, India, on developing a DNA vaccine and dendritic cell-based hybrid cell vaccine against Leishmaniasis. She completed her post-doctoral training in neonatology and mucosal immunology in Dr. Casey Weaver's lab at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Bhaumik studied the role of proinflammatory cytokine-IL-1b in the development of Th17 cells in the intestine, where gut resident dendritic cells (DCs) produce abundant amounts of retinoic acid, a suppressor of Th17 development. The fundamental nature of this finding is relevant to the emerging field of autoimmune diseases and cancer immunotherapy, where manipulation of Treg function (Treg plasticity or Treg fragility) is a viable treatment option.

A significant focus of Dr. Bhaumik's research as a staff scientist was the development and function of effector and regulatory CD4+ T cell subsets (Treg) during chronic colitis. Her finding demonstrated that despite being the master transcription factor for Th17 cells, RORgt regulates the suppressor function of colonic Tregs to prevent chronic colitis. She also studied the mechanism of gut-brain interaction during inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) by examining how proinflammatory CD4+T cells travel to the brain, causing inflammation in the CNS and neuropathology.