Gopalakrishnan Laboratory
Vidya Gopalakrishnan, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
- Departments, Labs and Institutes
- Labs
- Gopalakrishnan Laboratory
Areas of Research
- Pediatric
- Brain and CNS Tumor
- Chromatin Remodelers
- Epigenetics
The overall goal of research in the Gopalakrishnan Laboratory is to understand how pediatric brain tumors develop and to translate this information for therapeutic purposes.
Research Overview
Despite the rarity of childhood cancers, they are the leading cause of death from disease among children in the United States. A central challenge to improving long-term survival in pediatric cancer patients is an extremely limited spectrum of therapeutics that are effective in the setting of recurrent or metastatic tumors. High-throughput genomic studies have underscored the scarcity of mutations in pediatric tumors and also highlighted the need to evaluate changes in chromatin structure, post-translational modifications on proteins and a dysfunctional tumor microenvironment as drivers of childhood cancers. The advantage to the study of epigenetic, proteomic or immune mis-regulation in cancers is that these are potentially reversible and can be therapeutically targeted. Indeed, a number of epigenetic, kinase and immune modulators are in clinical trials for adult cancers and can be readily leveraged in a pediatric setting. Thus, the overall goal of research in my lab is to understand how pediatric brain tumors develop and to translate this information for therapeutic purposes.
Funding Support
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Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT)
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National Institutes of Health (NIH)
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American Cancer Society (ACS)
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Addis Faith Foundation
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Rally Foundation for Childhood Cancers
Meet the Team
Dr. Gopalakrishnan's lab is made up of a team of researchers with distinct specialties and various areas of expertise.
Recent Publications
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Science Signaling
Transcriptional repressor REST drives lineage-stage specific histone H3-lysine-9 methylation and Ptch1 loss of heterozygosity and Akt hyperactivity in medulloblastoma. Opens a new window
Dobson THW, Tao RH, Swaminathan J, Maegawa S, Shaik S, Bravo-Alegria J, Sharma A, Kennis B, Yang Y, Callegari K, Haltom A, Talyor P, Kogiso M, Qi L, Khatua S, Goldman S, Lulla R, Fangusaro J, MacDonald T, Li XL, Hawkins C, Rajaram V, Gopalakrishnan V
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Bioengineering
Pre-clinical models of pediatric brain tumors--forging ahead Opens a new window
Dobson THW and Gopalakrishnan V
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Molecular Cell
MLL4 is required to maintain broad range H3K4me3 peaks and super-enhancers at tumor suppressor genes Opens a new window
Dhar S, Zhao D, Lin T, Gu B, Pal K, Wu SJ, Alam H, Yun K, Gopalakrishnan V, Flores ER, Northcott PA, Rajaram V, Li W, Shilatifard A, Sillitoe R, Chen K and Lee MG
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Oncotarget
REST upregulates gremlin to modulate diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma vasculature Opens a new window
Shaik S*, Kennis B*, Fangusaro J, Lulla R, Rajaram V, Goldman S, Nazarian J and Gopalakrishnan V
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Cancer Metastasis
The ubiquitin proteasome pathway in adult and pediatric brain tumors: biological insights and therapeutic opportunities Opens a new window
Zaky W, Manton C, Miller C, Khatua S, Gopalakrishnan V and Chandra C
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Oncotarget
Targeting P-selectin blocks neuroblastoma growth Opens a new window
Nolo R, Herbrich S, Kannan S, Rao A, Zweidler-McKay P and Gopalakrishnan V
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Molecular Cancer Research
Regulation of USP37 expression by REST-associated G9a-dependent histone methylation Opens a new window
Dobson THW, Hatcher RJ, Swaminathan J, Das CM, Shaik S, Tao RH, Milite C, Castellano S, Taylor PH, Sbardella G, Gopalakrishnan V
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Methods in Molecular Biology
In vivo (19) F-magnetic resonance imaging of adoptively transferred NK cells Opens a new window
Somanchi SS, Kennis BA, Gopalakrishnan V, Lee DA, Bankson JA
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Cell Communication and Signaling
Pharmacological Inhibition of LSD1 blocks REST-dependent medulloblastoma cell migration. Opens a new window
Callegari K, Maegawa S, Bravo-Alegria J and Gopalakrishnan V