Sundar Venkatachalam, Ph.D.

Research Statement

The primary focus of my research involves the development of mutant mouse models to understand the roles of specific genetic pathways involved in cancer formation. All of our research projects have a systems biology based approach in which we perform functional analysis of specific genes at the molecular, cellular, and organismal levels. To date we have generated several mutant mouse models for cell cycle checkpoint and chromatin remodeling proteins. Graduate research projects for doctoral students who are interested in molecular and cellular biology are available. Undergraduate research projects are available for students (usually rising juniors and advanced sophomores) who are interested in learning advanced molecular and cellular biological techniques and understand their uses in modern medical research.

Selected Publications

Venkatachalam S (2005) Aging, p53 and the '24 gene mutant': getting it right A reply to Vijg and Hasty. Aging Cell 4(6):335-8.  (PDF Version)

Gentry A and Venkatachalam S (2005) Complicating the role of p53 in aging. Aging Cell 4: 157-160. (PDF Version)

Dumble M, Gatza C, Tyner S, Venkatachalam and Donehower LA (2004) Insights into aging obtained from p53 mutant mouse models.  Ann N Y Acad Sciences 1019: 171-7.

Moore L, Venkatachalam S,  Vogel H, Watt J,  Wu C,  Jones SN and Donehower LA (2003) Cooperativity of p19ARF, Mdm2, and p53 in murine tumorigenesis.  Oncogene 22(49): 7831-7837.

Tyner S*, Venkatachalam S*, Choi J, Jones SN, Ghebranious N, Igelmann H,  Lu X, Soron G, Cooper B, Brayton C, Park SH, Thompson T, Karsenty G, Bradley A and Donehower LA (2002) p53 mutant mice that display early aging associated phenotypes. Nature 415: 45-53. * equal contribution.

Venkatachalam S, Tyner S, Harvey M, Sands A, Boley S, Recio L, French JE and Donehower LA (2001) Is p53 Haploinsufficient for Tumor Suppression?  Implications for the p53+/- Mouse Model in Carcinogenicity Testing. Toxicol Pathology 20: S-147-154.

Venkatachalam S, Tyner S and Donehower LA (2001) The p53 knockout mice as a cancer model. Tumor Models in Cancer Research: Cancer Drug Discovery and Development series Humana Press.

Wani MA, Zhu QZ, El-Mahdy M, Venkatachalam S and Wani AA (2000) Enhanced sensitivity to anti-BPDE DNA damage correlates with decreased global genomic repair due to abrogated p53 function in human cells. Cancer Research 60(8): 2273-80.

Venkatachalam S and Donehower LA (1998) Murine Tumor Suppressor models. Mutation Research 400: 391-407.

Venkatachalam S, Shi Y, Jones SN, Vogel H, Bradley A, Pinkel D and Donehower LA (1998) Retention of wt p53 in tumors from p53 heterozygous mice: reduction in p53 gene dosage can promote cancer formation. EMBO Journal 16: 4657-4667.

Venkatachalam S, Denissenko M, Wani AA (1997) Modulation of anti-BPDE mediated p53 accumulation by inhibitors of protein kinase C and poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase. Oncogene 14: 801-809.

Denissenko M, Venkatachalam S, Ma Y and Wani AA (1996) Site-specific induction and repair of benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide DNA damage in human H-ras proto-oncogene as revealed by restriction cleavage inhibition. Mutation Research 363: 27-42. 

Denissenko M, Venkatachalam S, Ma Y and Wani AA (1995) Single-tube immuno-capture and PCR of genotoxin-modified DNA: application to gene-specific damage analysis. Biotechniques 21(2): 187-188.

Venkatachalam S, Denissenko M and Wani AA (1995) DNA repair in human cells: quantitative assessment of bulky anti-BPDE DNA adducts by non-competitive immunoassays. Carcinogenesis 16: 2029-2036.

Denissenko M, Venkatachalam S, Yamasaki EF and Wani AA (1994) Assessment of DNA damage and repair in specific genomic regions by quantitative immuno-coupled PCR.  Nucleic Acids Research 22: 2351-2359.

Venkatachalam S and Wani AA (1994) Differential recognition of stereochemically defined base adducts by antibodies against anti-benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide modified DNA.  Carcinogenesis 15: 565-572.

Venkatachalam S,  Denissenko M, Alvi N and Wani AA (1993) Rapid activation of apoptosis in human promyelocytic leukemic cells by anti-benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide induced DNA damage. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 197: 722-729.

Contact Information

Office:
Room F-235
Walters Life Sciences
Phone: (865) 974-3612

Lab:
Room E-210
Walters Life Sciences
Phone: (865) 974-4307

Email: sundar@utk.edu