Srividya Swaminathan, Ph.D.

Srividya Swaminathan, Ph.D., is a current NCI MERIT Awardee and St. Baldrick's Scholar. She is a former Scholar of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and Special Fellow of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). She has 13 years of research experience in lymphocyte biology, lymphoid malignancies and tumor immunology. She obtained her B Tech. degree from the Center for Biotechnology, Anna University in India, followed by a Ph.D. degree from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Subsequently, she trained as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California San Francisco and Stanford University. Prior to joining City of Hope, Dr. Swaminathan served as an instructor in the Department of Oncology at Stanford University, where she delineated the immunobiology of MYC oncogene‐driven lymphomas.

Dr. Swaminathan has authored 30 peer‐reviewed publications and is the lead inventor on one awarded US patent (2023). She is the senior author on publications in prestigious journals including Blood (2021), The Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (2023), Communications Biology (2023), and STAR Protocols (2021). She is the lead author on studies in Nature Medicine (2013), Nature Immunology (2015), The Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (2018), and Nature Communications (2020).

The Swaminathan Lab in the Department of Systems Biology is identifying nontoxic and targeted therapies for treating high‐risk B and T cell malignancies by comparing lymphoid cell‐intrinsic processes as well as the spatial and temporal distribution of the immune system during normal and malignant lymphoid cell development. Research in the Swaminathan lab is currently funded by the prestigious NCI R37 MERIT Award for Early-Stage Investigators, the LLS Translational Research Program, and competitive awards from ASH, St. Baldrick's Foundation, Leukemia Research Foundation, Prevent Cancer Foundation, and Concern Foundation.

• Kumar A, Taghi Khani A, Duault C, Aramburo S, Sanchez Ortiz A, Lee SJ, Chan A, McDonald T, Huang M, Lacayo NJ, Sakamoto KM, Yu J, Hurtz C, Carroll M, Tasian SK, Ghoda L, Marcucci G, Gu Z, Rosen ST, Armenian S, Izraeli S, Chen CW, Caligiuri MA, Forman SJ, Maecker HT, Swaminathan S. Intrinsic suppression of type I interferon production underlies the therapeutic efficacy of IL‐15 producing natural killer cells in Bcell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. J Immunother Cancer. 2023 May;11(5). doi: 10.1136/jitc‐2022‐006649. PMID: 37217248.
• Taghi Khani A, Kumar A, Sanchez Ortiz A, Radecki KC, Aramburo S, Lee SJ, Hu Z, Damirchi B, Lorenson MY, Wu X, Gu Z, Stohl W, Sanz I, Meffre E, Müschen M, Forman SJ, Koff JL, Walker AM, Swaminathan S. Isoform‐specific knockdown of long and intermediate prolactin receptors interferes with evolution of B‐cell neoplasms. Commun Biol. Nature Publishing Group; 2023 Mar 20;6(1):295. PMID: 36941341.
• Smith BAH, Deutzmann A, Correa KM, Delaveris CS, Dhanasekaran R, Dove CG, Sullivan DK, Wisnovsky S, Stark JC, Pluvinage JV, Swaminathan S, Riley NM, Rajan A, Majeti R, Felsher DW, Bertozzi CR. MYC‐driven synthesis of Siglec ligands is a glycoimmune checkpoint. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2023 Mar 14;120(11):e2215376120. PMID: 36897988
• Cluff E, Magdaleno CC, Fernandez E, House T, Swaminathan S, Varadaraj A, Rajasekaran N. Hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1 alpha expression is induced by IL‐2 via the PI3K/mTOR pathway in hypoxic NK cells and supports effector functions in NKL cells and ex vivo expanded NK cells. Cancer Immunol Immunother. 2022 Jan 9;. doi: 10.1007/s00262‐021‐03126‐9. PMID:34999917.
• Kumar A, Lee SJ, Liu Q, Chan AKN, Pokharel SP, Yu J, Chen CW, Swaminathan S. Generation and validation of CRISPR‐engineered human natural killer cell lines for research and therapeutic applications. STAR Protoc. 2021 Dec 17;2(4):100874. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2021.100874. eCollection 2021 Dec 17. PMID: 34746857
• Chen K‐HE, Ghosh M, Rivera L, Lin S, Kumar A, Swaminathan S, Lorenson MY, Walker AM. Prolactin enhances T regulatory cell promotion of breast cancer through the long-form prolactin receptor. Translational Oncology. 2021 Nov 1;14(11):101195. PMID: 34375938.
• Duault C, Kumar A, Taghi Khani A, Lee SJ, Yang L, Huang M, Hurtz C, Manning B, Ghoda L, McDonald T, Lacayo NJ, Sakamoto KM, Carroll M, Tasian SK, Marcucci G, Yu J, Caligiuri MA, Maecker HT, Swaminathan S. Activated natural killer cells predict poor clinical prognosis in high‐risk B‐ and T‐cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Blood. 2021 Oct 21;138(16):1465–1480. PMID: 34077953.
• Liefwalker DF, Ryan M, Wang Z, Pathak KV, Plaisier S, Shah V, Babra B, Dewson GS, Lai IK, Mosley AR, Fueger PT, Casey SC, Jiang L, Pirrotte P, Swaminathan S, Sears RC. Metabolic convergence on lipogenesis in RAS, BCR‐ABL, and MYC‐driven lymphoid malignancies. Cancer & Metabolism. 2021 Aug 16;9(1):31. PMID: 34399819.
• Hori SS, Tong L, Swaminathan S, Liebersbach M, Wang J, Gambhir SS, Felsher DW. A mathematical model of tumor regression and recurrence after therapeutic oncogene inactivation. Scientific Reports. 2021 Jan 14;11(1):1341. PMID: 33446671.
• Swaminathan S, Hansen AS, Heftdal LD, Dhanasekaran R, Deutzmann A, Fernandez WDM, Liefwalker DF, Horton C, Mosley A, Liebersbach M, Maecker HT, Felsher DW. MYC functions as a switch for natural killer cell-mediated immune surveillance of lymphoid malignancies. Nat Commun. Nature Publishing Group; 2020 Jun 5;11(1):2860. PMID: 32503978
• Lai I, Swaminathan S, Baylot V, Mosley A, Dhanasekaran R, Gabay M, Felsher DW. Lipid nanoparticles that deliver IL‐12 messenger RNA suppress tumorigenesis in MYC oncogene‐driven hepatocellular carcinoma. Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer. 2018 Nov 20;6(1):125. PMID: 30458889.
• Shojaee S, Caeser R, Buchner M, Park E, Swaminathan S, Hurtz C, Geng H, Chan LN, Klemm L, Hofmann W‐K, Qiu YH, Zhang N, Coombes KR, Paietta E, Molkentin J, Koeffler HP, Willman CL, Hunger SP, Melnick A, Kornblau SM, Müschen M. Erk negative feedback control enables pre‐B cell transformation and represents a therapeutic target in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Cancer Cell. 2015; 28. PMID: 26073130
• Swaminathan S, Klemm L, Park E, Papaemmanuil E, Ford A, Kweon S‐M, Trageser D, Hasselfeld B, Henke N, Mooster J, Geng H, Schwarz K, Kogan S, Casellas R, Schatz D, Lieber M, Greaves M, Müschen M. Mechanisms of clonal evolution in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Nature Immunology. 2015; 16. PMID: 25985233.
• Masouleh BK, Geng H, Hurtz C, Chan LN, Logan AC, Chang M, Huang C, Swaminathan S, Sun H, Paeitta E, Melnick A, Koeffler HP, Müschen M. A mechanistic rationale for targeting the unfolded protein response in pre‐B acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2014; 111. PMID: 24821775
• Gang EJ, Hsieh YT, Pham J, Zhao Y, Nguyen C, Huantes S, Park E, Naing K, Klemm L, Swaminathan S, Conway EM, Pelus LM, Crispino J, Mullighan CG, MacMillan M, Müschen M, Kahn M, Kim YM. Small molecule inhibition of CBP/catenin interactions eliminates drug-resistant clones in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Oncogene. 2014; 33. PMID: 23728349
• Swaminathan S, Huang C, Geng H, Chen Z, Harvey R, Kang H, Ng C, Titz B, Hurtz C, Sadiyah MF, Graeber T, Igarashi K, Carroll W, Willman C, Melnick A, Koeffler HP, Müschen M. BACH2 mediates negative selection and p53‐dependent tumor suppression at the pre‐B cell receptor checkpoint. Nature Medicine. 2013; 19. PMID: 23852341
• Duy C, Hurtz C, Shojaee S, Cerchietti L, Geng H, Swaminathan S, Klemm L, Kweon SM, Nahar R, Braig M, Park E, Kim YM, Hofmann WK, Herzog S, Jumaa H, Koeffler HP, Yu JJ, Heisterkamp N, Graeber TG, Wu H, Ye BH, Melnick A, Müschen M. BCL6 enables Ph+ acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cells to survive BCR‐ABL1 kinase inhibition. Nature. 2011; 473. PMID: 21593872
• Duy C, Yu JJ, Nahar N, Swaminathan S, Kweon SM, Polo JM, Klemm L, Shojaee S, Cerchietti L, Hurtz C, Ramezani‐Rad P, Jack HM, Herzog S, Jumaa H, Koeffler HP, Moreno de Alborán I, Melnick A, Ye BH, Müschen M. BCL6 is critical for the development of a diverse primary B cell repertoire. Journal of Experimental Medicine. 2010; 207. PMID: 20498019

• Kumar A, Taghi Khani A, Sanchez Ortiz A, Swaminathan S. GM‐CSF: A double‐edged sword in cancer immunotherapy. Frontiers in Immunology. 2022;13:901277. PMCID: PMC9294178.
• Kumar A, Taghi Khani A, Swaminathan S. Harnessing Natural Killer Cell‐Mediated Innate Immune Responses for Cancer Treatment: Advances and Challenges. Exploratory Research and Hypothesis in Medicine. 2022 March. doi: 10.14218/ERHM.2022.00024.
• Kumar A, Taghi Khani A, Swaminathan S. Type I Interferons: One Stone to Concurrently Kill Two Birds, Viral Infections and Cancers. Current Research in Virological Science. 2021. In press.
• Swaminathan S, Müschen M. Infectious origins of childhood leukemia. Oncotarget. 2015; 6. PMID: 26196452
• Buchner M, Swaminathan S, Chen Z, Müschen M. Mechanisms of pre‐B cell receptor checkpoint control and its subversion in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Immunological Reviews. 2014; 263. PMID: 25510278
• Swaminathan S, Müschen M. Follicular lymphoma: too many reminders for a memory B cell. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2014; 124. PMID: 25384212
• Swaminathan S, Duy C, Müschen M. BACH2‐BCL6 balance regulates selection at the pre-B cell receptor checkpoint. Trends in Immunology. 2014; 35. PMID: 24332591

• Swaminathan S, Felsher DW, Maecker HT, inventors. Stanford University, assignee. Profiling and treatment of myc‐associated cancers. United States patent no. 11648275. Issued 2023 May.