Achuth Padmanabhan
Assistant Professor
Biological Sciences
Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building (ILSB) 420
Education
Instructor Baylor College of Medicine 2019
Postdoc Yale University 2015
Ph D University of Maryland Baltimore County 2011
BS Bharathidasan University 2005
Research Interests
How does a normal cell become cancerous? What factors enable cancer cells to grow rapidly, evade immune surveillance and metastasize to distant sites? How does the tumor microenvironment evolve during this process? Why are the extant anti-cancer therapeutics largely ineffective? How can we develop more effective therapeutic strategies that will improve clinical outcome in patients with metastatic disease? These are some of the broad questions we seek to address in our laboratory.
Teaching Interests
BIOL 444/644 - Development and Cancer
BIOL 303 - Cell Biology
Contracts, Fellowships, Grants, and Sponsored Research
Padmanabhan, Achuth (Principal). “Scientific Scholar Award,” Sponsored Research (In-Progress). Sponsored By: Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer. (Sep 1, 2019 – Aug 31, 2021).
Padmanabhan, Achuth (Principal). “American Cancer Society - Institutional Research Grant,” SubContract (In-Progress). Sponsored By: American Cancer Society. (Jan 1, 2020 – Dec 31, 2020).
Padmanabhan, Achuth (Principal), Xue, Fengtian (Co-Principal). “Accelerated Translational Incubator Pilot (ATIP) Grant,” Grant (Funded). Sponsored By: University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) Institute for Clinical & Translational Research (ICTR). (May 1, 2020 – Apr 30, 2021).
Padmanabhan, Achuth. “COMMERCIALIZATION & ENTR RESEARCH (CENTRE) FUNDING INITIATIVE,” Grant Sponsored By: Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship at UMBC. (Jul 1, 2021 – Jun 30, 2022).
Padmanabhan, Achuth, Bieberich, Charles Joseph (Co-Principal). “ENTREPRENEURSHIP & INNOVATION CURRICULUM GRANT,” Grant Sponsored By: University of Maryland Baltimore County. (Jul 1, 2021 – Jun 30, 2022).
Padmanabhan, Achuth (Principal). “Strategic Awards for Research Transitions (START),” Grant Sponsored By: University of Maryland Baltimore County. (Jul 1, 2021 – Jun 30, 2022).
Padmanabhan, Achuth (Principal). “UMGCCC Payline Pilot Grant,” Grant Sponsored By: University of Maryland Cancer Center. (Jul 1, 2021 – Jun 30, 2022).
Padmanabhan, Achuth (Principal). “Elsa U. Pardee Foundation Grant,” Sponsored Research Sponsored By: Elsa U. Pardee Foundation. (Sep 1, 2021 – Sep 30, 2022).
Padmanabhan, Achuth (Principal). “Technology Catalyst Fund Award,” Grant Sponsored By: University of Maryland Baltimore County. (Jan 1, 2022 – Jan 31, 2023).
Padmanabhan, Achuth (Principal), Fan, Xiaoxuan (Co-Principal). “Accelerated Translational Incubator Pilot (ATIP) Grant,” Grant (Funded). Sponsored By: University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) Institute for Clinical & Translational Research (ICTR). (May 1, 2023 – Apr 30, 2024).
Padmanabhan, Achuth (Principal). “UMBC Summer Research Faculty Fellowship (SURFF),” Grant (Funded). Sponsored By: University of Maryland Baltimore County. (May 1, 2023 – Aug 30, 2023).
Padmanabhan, Achuth (Principal), Bieberich, Charles Joseph. (Other), Shih, Ie-Ming (Other). “Role and Regulation of ZNF217 in ovarian cancer progression and drug resistance,” Sponsored Research (Funded). Sponsored By: Department of Defense. (Jun 15, 2023 – Jun 14, 2027).
Padmanabhan, Achuth (Principal). “Clinically translatable strategies to improve therapeutic response in metastatic ovarian cancer,” Sponsored Research (Funded). Sponsored By: Department of Defense. (Jun 15, 2023 – Jun 14, 2025).
Padmanabhan, Achuth (Principal). “Role of protein kinase ADCK5 in ovarian cancer,” Sponsored Research (Funded). Sponsored By: National Institutes of Health. (Sep 1, 2023 – Aug 31, 2025).
Intellectual Contributions
Padmanabhan, Achuth, Kaushik, M, Niranjan, R, Richards, J S., Ebright, B, Venkatasubbu, G D. (2019). Zinc Oxide nanoparticles induce oxidative and proteotoxic stress in ovarian cancer cells and trigger apoptosis Independent of p53-mutation status. 487 807-818 Applied surface science.
Candelaria, N R., Padmanabhan, Achuth, Stossi, F, Ljungberg, M C., Shelly, K E., Pew, B K., Solis, M, Rossano, A M., McAllister, J M., Wu, S, Richards, J S. (2019). VCAM1 Is Induced in Ovarian Theca and Stromal Cells in a Mouse Model of Androgen Excess. 6. 160 1377-1393 Endocrinology.
Padmanabhan, Achuth. (2018). Selective targeting of p53 gain-of-function mutants in cancer. 3-4. 5 73-74 Oncoscience.
Padmanabhan, Achuth, Candelaria, N, Wong, K K., Nikolai, B C., Lonard, D M., O'Malley, B W., Richards, J S. (2018). USP15-dependent lysosomal pathway controls p53-R175H turnover in ovarian cancer cells. 1. 9 1270 Nature Communications.
Padmanabhan, Achuth, Rao, V, De Marzo, A M., Bieberich, Charles Joseph. (2016). Regulating NKX3.1 stability and function: Post-translational modifications and structural determinants. 6. 76 523-33 The Prostate.
Padmanabhan, Achuth, Vuong, S A., Hochstrasser, M. (2016). Assembly of an Evolutionarily Conserved Alternative Proteasome Isoform in Human Cells. 12. 14 2962-74 Cell Reports.
Padmanabhan, Achuth, Li, X, Bieberich, Charles Joseph. (2013). Protein kinase A regulates MYC protein through transcriptional and post-translational mechanisms in a catalytic subunit isoform-specific manner. 20. 288 14158-69 The Journal of biological chemistry.
Padmanabhan, Achuth, Gosc, E B., Bieberich, Charles Joseph. (2013). Stabilization of the prostate-specific tumor suppressor NKX3.1 by the oncogenic protein kinase Pim-1 in prostate cancer cells. 5. 114 1050-7 Journal of cellular biochemistry.
Li, X, Guan, B, Srivastava, M K., Padmanabhan, Achuth, Hampton, B S., Bieberich, Charles Joseph. (2007). The reverse in-gel kinase assay to profile physiological kinase substrates. 11. 4 957-62 Nature Methods.