Angela Rivers, MD, PhD
Professor
Pediatrics
School of Medicine

She has been Principal Investigator for several high-profile studies and received extramural research funding from government agencies, pharmaceutical companies focused on sickle cell drug therapeutics, and the NIH/NHLBI (including K01, R03, and R01 grants). Dr. Rivers is currently the principal investigator of the Rivers Lab. Based in the Department of Pediatrics-Hematology, at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, Rivers Lab is the first to publish the novel discovery that there is a higher presence of red blood cells (RBC) containing mitochondria in sickle cell disease (SCD) mice and human patients compared to normal controls.

• A new target for fetal hemoglobin reactivation.
  Haematologica 2019 Rivers A, Molokie R, Lavelle D
• Oral administration of the LSD1 inhibitor ORY-3001 increases fetal hemoglobin in sickle cell mice and baboons.
  Experimental hematology 2018 Rivers A, Vaitkus K, Jagadeeswaran R, Ruiz MA, Ibanez V, Ciceri F, Cavalcanti F, Molokie RE, Saunthararajah Y, Engel JD, DeSimone J, Lavelle D
• Potential role of LSD1 inhibitors in the treatment of sickle cell disease: a review of preclinical animal model data.
  American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology 2018 Rivers A, Jagadeeswaran R, Lavelle D
• Evolving treatment paradigms in sickle cell disease.
  Hematology. American Society of Hematology. Education Program 2017 Jagadeeswaran R, Rivers A
• Pharmacological inhibition of LSD1 and mTOR reduces mitochondrial retention and associated ROS levels in the red blood cells of sickle cell disease.
  Experimental hematology 2017 Jagadeeswaran R, Vazquez BA, Thiruppathi M, Ganesh BB, Ibanez V, Cui S, Engel JD, Diamond AM, Molokie RE, DeSimone J, Lavelle D, Rivers A
• Efficacy and safety of long-term RN-1 treatment to increase HbF in baboons.
  Blood 2016 Ibanez V, Vaitkus K, Rivers A, Molokie R, Cui S, Engel JD, DeSimone J, Lavelle D
• The LSD1 inhibitor RN-1 recapitulates the fetal pattern of hemoglobin synthesis in baboons (P. anubis).
  Haematologica 2016 Rivers A, Vaitkus K, Ibanez V, Ruiz MA, Jagadeeswaran R, Saunthararajah Y, Cui S, Engel JD, DeSimone J, Lavelle D
• Adverse Reactions to Pneumococcal Vaccine in Pediatric and Adolescent Patients with Sickle Cell Disease.
  Pharmacotherapy 2015 Han J, Kemiki O, Hsu LL, Rivers AE
• The LSD1 inhibitor RN-1 induces fetal hemoglobin synthesis and reduces disease pathology in sickle cell mice.
  Blood 2015 Cui S, Lim KC, Shi L, Lee M, Jearawiriyapaisarn N, Myers G, Campbell A, Harro D, Iwase S, Trievel RC, Rivers A, DeSimone J, Lavelle D, Saunthararajah Y, Engel JD
• RN-1, a potent and selective lysine-specific demethylase 1 inhibitor, increases γ-globin expression, F reticulocytes, and F cells in a sickle cell disease mouse model.
  Experimental hematology 2015 Rivers A, Vaitkus K, Ruiz MA, Ibanez V, Jagadeeswaran R, Kouznetsova T, DeSimone J, Lavelle D
• Hydroxymethylcytosine and demethylation of the γ-globin gene promoter during erythroid differentiation.
  Epigenetics 2015 Ruiz MA, Rivers A, Ibanez V, Vaitkus K, Mahmud N, DeSimone J, Lavelle D
• Rationally designed capsid and transgene cassette of AAV6 vectors for dendritic cell-based cancer immunotherapy.
  Immunology and cell biology 2013 Pandya J, Ortiz L, Ling C, Rivers AE, Aslanidi G
• Optimizing the transduction efficiency of capsid-modified AAV6 serotype vectors in primary human hematopoietic stem cells in vitro and in a xenograft mouse model in vivo.
  Cytotherapy 2013 Song L, Kauss MA, Kopin E, Chandra M, Ul-Hasan T, Miller E, Jayandharan GR, Rivers AE, Aslanidi GV, Ling C, Li B, Ma W, Li X, Andino LM, Zhong L, Tarantal AF, Yoder MC, Wong KK, Tan M, Chatterjee S, …
• Drug-loaded sickle cells programmed ex vivo for delayed hemolysis target hypoxic tumor microvessels and augment tumor drug delivery.
  Journal of controlled release : official journal of the Controlled Release Society 2013 Choe SW, Terman DS, Rivers AE, Rivera J, Lottenberg R, Sorg BS
• Optimization of the capsid of recombinant adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) vectors: the final threshold?
  PloS one 2013 Aslanidi GV, Rivers AE, Ortiz L, Song L, Ling C, Govindasamy L, Van Vliet K, Tan M, Agbandje-McKenna M, Srivastava A
• High-efficiency transduction of human monocyte-derived dendritic cells by capsid-modified recombinant AAV2 vectors.
  Vaccine 2012 Aslanidi GV, Rivers AE, Ortiz L, Govindasamy L, Ling C, Jayandharan GR, Zolotukhin S, Agbandje-McKenna M, Srivastava A
• Optimized adeno-associated virus (AAV)-protein phosphatase-5 helper viruses for efficient liver transduction by single-stranded AAV vectors: therapeutic expression of factor IX at reduced vector doses.
  Human gene therapy 2010 Jayandharan GR, Zhong L, Sack BK, Rivers AE, Li M, Li B, Herzog RW, Srivastava A
• Congenital cytopenias and bone marrow failure syndromes.
  Seminars in perinatology 2009 Rivers A, Slayton WB
• Type 2B von Willebrand disease associated with the release of platelet agglutinates from megakaryocytes in the bone marrow.
  Journal of pediatric hematology/oncology 2008 Slayton WB, Patel M, Sola-Visner M, Harris N, Rivers A, Montgomery RR, Friedman KD
• Optimization of recombinant adeno-associated viral vectors for human beta-globin gene transfer and transgene expression.
  Human gene therapy 2008 Maina N, Zhong L, Li X, Zhao W, Han Z, Bischof D, Aslanidi G, Zolotukhin S, Weigel-Van Aken KA, Rivers AE, Slayton WB, Yoder MC, Srivastava A