Shanmugarajan Krishnan, PhD
Department of Radiation Oncology
Harvard Medical School, USA
Dr. Shanmgarajan Krishnan, a passionate glioblastoma(GBM) researcher is a Fellow in Dr. Rakesh Jains Steele Laboratories for Tumour Biology at the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. He has constantlyu pushed the envelope during his undergraduate at the national University of Singapore, Masters at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden and PhD in Neuroscience under Dr. Michael Weller at the university Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. His PhD work identified a biomodal action of TGF-β in regulating GBM angiogenesis. He is currently enthusiastic about studying the inherent and adaptive resistance mchanisms in the GBM microenvironment to improve immunotherapy in preclinical models. He is recipient of the Swiss national foundation Post-Doc Fellowship, and the US Department of Defence Horizon award. He has authoured/co authored 6 publications in reputated journals, is a review editor in Frontiers in Oncology and Science matters. An avid reader who keeps abreast on the latest developments in oncology.
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and aggressive brain tumor that is refractory to treatment with 100% fatality. GBM has an incidence rate of 3.19 per 100,000 persons in the United States and a median age of 64 years. The incidence is 1.6 times higher in males compared to females and 2.0 times higher in Caucasians compared to Africans and Afro-Americans, with lower incidence in Asians and American Indians. Unfortunately, even with the best standard of care, including surgery, chemo-radiation and antiangiogenic therapy, the maximum life expectancy for members of the general public with GBM is approximately 15 months. Combination of the need to understand GBM pathology, GBM’s inherent and adaptive resistance to therapy, fewer neoantigens for targeting and the limited survival benefits of available treatments constitute major gaps in the public health care system. Thus, novel and effective treatments that induce durable anti-tumor responses would have a major impact on GBM patients.
