Srividya Swaminathan, Ph.D.

626-218-5628
Srividya Swaminathan
Assistant Professor, Department of Systems Biology
Research Area
Immune Profiling of Normal and Malignant Lymphopoiesis
Molecular Mechanisms of Immune Modulation by Oncogenes
Development of Cell-based and Non-cell-based Immunotherapies Against Lymphoid Neoplasms

Srividya Swaminathan, Ph.D., is a scholar of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and a former special fellow of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) with 10 years of research experience in hematologyoncology. 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. She carried out her doctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr. Markus Müschen, M.D., Ph.D., where she studied the cellautonomous processes driving both normal B‐lymphopoiesis and precursor‐B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Subsequently, she trained as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California San Francisco (Mentor: Dr. Müschen), and Stanford University (Mentor: Dean Felsher, M.D., Ph.D.).

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 over 20 peer‐reviewed publications. These include senior authorship original research articles in Blood (2021) and STAR Protocols (2021), and lead author research studies in Nature Medicine (2013), Nature Immunology (2015), JITC (2018) and Nature Communications (2020). Dr. Swaminathan and her laboratory in the Department of Systems Biology are 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 lymphopoiesis. Research in the Swaminathan lab is currently funded by the prestigious LLS Translational Research Program and competitive awards from ASH, B+ Foundation, and City of Hope.

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Location
Education & Experience
Degrees

  • 2013, Ph.D., Genetic, Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

  • 2008, Bachelor of Technology (B Tech.), Industrial Biotechnology, Anna University, Chennai, India

Fellowship

  • 2015-2018, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Medicine-Oncology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

  • 2013-2015, Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA

Professional Experience

  • 2019-present, Assistant Professor, Department of Systems Biology, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Monrovia, CA

  • 2018-2019, Instructor, Department of Medicine-Oncology, Stanford University, CA

Research
Learn more about Dr. Swaminathan's research
Awards & Memberships
Awards

  • 2023, Bridge Grant, American Society of Hematology

  • 2023, Congressional Families Program Award, Prevent Cancer Foundation

  • 2022, Conquer Cancer Now Award, Concern Foundation

  • 2021, Chancellor’s Research Grant, The Chancellor’s Group, City of Hope

  • 2021, Childhood Cancer Research Grant, Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation

  • 2021, Translational Research Program Award, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

  • 2021, Research Starter Grant in Drug Discovery, PhRMA Foundation

  • 2018, 2021, Scholar Award and Supplement, American Society of Hematology

  • 2016, Special Fellow Award, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society

  • 2013, Travel Grant, European Science Foundation Research Conference

  • 2012, 2014, Abstract Achievement Award, American Society of Hematology

  • 2008, Gold medal (Rank 1/80, Valedictorian), B. Tech., Industrial Biotechnology, Anna, University, India

  • 2007, Summer Research Fellow Award, Indian Academy of Sciences

Memberships

  • 2021, Editorial Board Member, Exploratory Research and Hypothesis in Medicine

  • 2017-present, Member, American Society of Hematology

  • 2014-Present, Member, American Association of Cancer Research

  • 2014-2016 Member, American Association of Immunologists

Publications
 
Peer‐reviewed original research
  • 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 U S A. 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
Peer‐reviewed invited reviews
  • 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
Patents awarded
  • 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.