Pavithra Viswanath, PhD
Professor
Radiology
School of Medicine

Her laboratory studies how oncogenic drivers and the tumor microenvironment shape both tumor and immunometabolism, and how these metabolic vulnerabilities can be visualized and therapeutically targeted in brain cancers.

By integrating fundamental biology with clinical translation, Dr. Viswanath’s work aims to transform how tumors are diagnosed, classified, and treated. At UCSF, she leads a collaborative team of biomedical engineers, chemists, and biologists, each contributing a distinct perspective to the shared mission of advancing cancer care. Outside the lab, she enjoys reading, hiking, practicing yoga, and playing board games with her husband and children.

• Telomerase reverse transcriptase induces targetable alterations in glutathione and nucleotide biosynthesis in glioblastomas.
  bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology 2023 Udutha S, Taglang C, Batsios G, Gillespie AM, Tran M, Ronen SM, Ten Hoeve J, Graeber TG, Viswanath P
• Imaging telomerase reverse transcriptase expression in oligodendrogliomas using hyperpolarized δ-[1-13C]-gluconolactone.
  Neuro-oncology advances 2023 Batsios G, Taglang C, Gillespie AM, Viswanath P
• Hyperpolarized δ-[1- 13C]gluconolactone imaging visualizes response to TERT or GABPB1 targeting therapy for glioblastoma.
  Scientific reports 2023 Minami N, Hong D, Taglang C, Batsios G, Gillespie AM, Viswanath P, Stevers N, Barger CJ, Costello JF, Ronen SM
• Imaging biomarkers of TERT or GABPB1 silencing in TERT-positive glioblastoma.
  Neuro-oncology 2022 Minami N, Hong D, Stevers N, Barger CJ, Radoul M, Hong C, Chen L, Kim Y, Batsios G, Gillespie AM, Pieper RO, Costello JF, Viswanath P, Ronen SM
• A 13C/31P surface coil to visualize metabolism and energetics in the rodent brain at 3 Tesla.
  Journal of magnetic resonance (San Diego, Calif. : 1997) 2022 Vaidya MV, Zhang B, Hong D, Brown R, Batsios G, Viswanath P, Paska J, Wulf G, Grant AK, Ronen SM, Larson PEZ
• Deuterium Metabolic Imaging Reports on TERT Expression and Early Response to Therapy in Cancer.
  Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research 2022 Batsios G, Taglang C, Tran M, Stevers N, Barger C, Gillespie AM, Ronen SM, Costello JF, Viswanath P
• Deuterium magnetic resonance spectroscopy enables noninvasive metabolic imaging of tumor burden and response to therapy in low-grade gliomas.
  Neuro-oncology 2022 Taglang C, Batsios G, Mukherjee J, Tran M, Gillespie AM, Hong D, Ronen SM, Artee Luchman H, Pieper RO, Viswanath P
• Acquisition and quantification pipeline for in vivo hyperpolarized 13 C MR spectroscopy.
  Magnetic resonance in medicine 2021 Hong D, Batsios G, Viswanath P, Gillespie AM, Vaidya M, Larson PEZ, Ronen SM
• Metabolic imaging detects elevated glucose flux through the pentose phosphate pathway associated with TERT expression in low-grade gliomas.
  Neuro-oncology 2021 Viswanath P, Batsios G, Ayyappan V, Taglang C, Gillespie AM, Larson PEZ, Luchman HA, Costello JF, Pieper RO, Ronen SM
• Deuterium Metabolic Imaging-Rediscovery of a Spectroscopic Tool.
  Metabolites 2021 Polvoy I, Qin H, Flavell RR, Gordon J, Viswanath P, Sriram R, Ohliger MA, Wilson DM
• Imaging 6-Phosphogluconolactonase Activity in Brain Tumors In Vivo Using Hyperpolarized δ-[1-13C]gluconolactone.
  Frontiers in oncology 2021 Batsios G, Taglang C, Cao P, Gillespie AM, Najac C, Subramani E, Wilson DM, Flavell RR, Larson PEZ, Ronen SM, Viswanath P
• Early Noninvasive Metabolic Biomarkers of Mutant IDH Inhibition in Glioma.
  Metabolites 2021 Radoul M, Hong D, Gillespie AM, Najac C, Viswanath P, Pieper RO, Costello JF, Luchman HA, Ronen SM
• Non-invasive assessment of telomere maintenance mechanisms in brain tumors.
  Nature communications 2021 Viswanath P, Batsios G, Mukherjee J, Gillespie AM, Larson PEZ, Luchman HA, Phillips JJ, Costello JF, Pieper RO, Ronen SM
• Ferronostics: Measuring Tumoral Ferrous Iron with PET to Predict Sensitivity to Iron-Targeted Cancer Therapies.
  Journal of nuclear medicine : official publication, Society of Nuclear Medicine 2020 Zhao N, Huang Y, Wang YH, Muir RK, Chen YC, Wei J, Hooshdaran N, Viswanath P, Seo Y, Ruggero D, Renslo AR, Evans MJ
• Glutamate Is a Noninvasive Metabolic Biomarker of IDH1-Mutant Glioma Response to Temozolomide Treatment.
  Cancer research 2020 Subramani E, Radoul M, Najac C, Batsios G, Molloy AR, Hong D, Gillespie AM, Santos RD, Viswanath P, Costello JF, Pieper RO, Ronen SM
• MR-detectable metabolic biomarkers of response to mutant IDH inhibition in low-grade glioma.
  Theranostics 2020 Molloy AR, Najac C, Viswanath P, Lakhani A, Subramani E, Batsios G, Radoul M, Gillespie AM, Pieper RO, Ronen SM
• In vivo detection of γ-glutamyl-transferase up-regulation in glioma using hyperpolarized γ-glutamyl-[1-13C]glycine.
  Scientific reports 2020 Batsios G, Najac C, Cao P, Viswanath P, Subramani E, Saito Y, Gillespie AM, Yoshihara HAI, Larson P, Sando S, Ronen SM
• PI3K/mTOR inhibition of IDH1 mutant glioma leads to reduced 2HG production that is associated with increased survival.
  Scientific reports 2019 Batsios G, Viswanath P, Subramani E, Najac C, Gillespie AM, Santos RD, Molloy AR, Pieper RO, Ronen SM
• In vivo investigation of hyperpolarized [1,3-13C2]acetoacetate as a metabolic probe in normal brain and in glioma.
  Scientific reports 2019 Najac C, Radoul M, Le Page LM, Batsios G, Subramani E, Viswanath P, Gillespie AM, Ronen SM
• HDAC inhibition in glioblastoma monitored by hyperpolarized 13 C MRSI.
  NMR in biomedicine 2018 Radoul M, Najac C, Viswanath P, Mukherjee J, Kelly M, Gillespie AM, Chaumeil MM, Eriksson P, Delos Santos R, Pieper RO, Ronen SM
• Mutant IDH1 gliomas downregulate phosphocholine and phosphoethanolamine synthesis in a 2-hydroxyglutarate-dependent manner.
  Cancer & metabolism 2018 Viswanath P, Radoul M, Izquierdo-Garcia JL, Luchman HA, Gregory Cairncross J, Pieper RO, Phillips JJ, Ronen SM
• 2-Hydroxyglutarate-Mediated Autophagy of the Endoplasmic Reticulum Leads to an Unusual Downregulation of Phospholipid Biosynthesis in Mutant IDH1 Gliomas.
  Cancer research 2018 Viswanath P, Radoul M, Izquierdo-Garcia JL, Ong WQ, Luchman HA, Cairncross JG, Huang B, Pieper RO, Phillips JJ, Ronen SM
• Clonal expansion and epigenetic reprogramming following deletion or amplification of mutant IDH1.
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2017 Mazor T, Chesnelong C, Pankov A, Jalbert LE, Hong C, Hayes J, Smirnov IV, Marshall R, Souza CF, Shen Y, Viswanath P, Noushmehr H, Ronen SM, Jones SJM, Marra MA, Cairncross JG, Perry A, Nelson SJ, …
• Development of a rapid and reliable assay for in vitro determination of compound cidality against the asexual stages of Plasmodium falciparum.
  Acta parasitologica 2016 Viswanath P, Morayya S, Rautela N, Sinha A
• Mutant IDH1 Expression Drives TERT Promoter Reactivation as Part of the Cellular Transformation Process.
  Cancer research 2016 Ohba S, Mukherjee J, Johannessen TC, Mancini A, Chow TT, Wood M, Jones L, Mazor T, Marshall RE, Viswanath P, Walsh KM, Perry A, Bell RJ, Phillips JJ, Costello JF, Ronen SM, Pieper RO
• Rapid Conversion of Mutant IDH1 from Driver to Passenger in a Model of Human Gliomagenesis.
  Molecular cancer research : MCR 2016 Johannessen TA, Mukherjee J, Viswanath P, Ohba S, Ronen SM, Bjerkvig R, Pieper RO
• Hyperpolarized (13)C MR imaging detects no lactate production in mutant IDH1 gliomas: Implications for diagnosis and response monitoring.
  NeuroImage. Clinical 2016 Chaumeil MM, Radoul M, Najac C, Eriksson P, Viswanath P, Blough MD, Chesnelong C, Luchman HA, Cairncross JG, Ronen SM
• Mutant IDH1 expression is associated with down-regulation of monocarboxylate transporters.
  Oncotarget 2016 Viswanath P, Najac C, Izquierdo-Garcia JL, Pankov A, Hong C, Eriksson P, Costello JF, Pieper RO, Ronen SM
• Molecular Imaging of Metabolic Reprograming in Mutant IDH Cells.
  Frontiers in oncology 2016 Viswanath P, Chaumeil MM, Ronen SM
• Metabolic reprogramming of pyruvate dehydrogenase is essential for the proliferation of glioma cells expressing mutant IDH1.
  Molecular & cellular oncology 2015 Viswanath P, Ronen SM
• IDH1 Mutation Induces Reprogramming of Pyruvate Metabolism.
  Cancer research 2015 Izquierdo-Garcia JL, Viswanath P, Eriksson P, Cai L, Radoul M, Chaumeil MM, Blough M, Luchman HA, Weiss S, Cairncross JG, Phillips JJ, Pieper RO, Ronen SM
• Triaminopyrimidine is a fast-killing and long-acting antimalarial clinical candidate.
  Nature communications 2015 Hameed P S, Solapure S, Patil V, Henrich PP, Magistrado PA, Bharath S, Murugan K, Viswanath P, Puttur J, Srivastava A, Bellale E, Panduga V, Shanbag G, Awasthy D, Landge S, Morayya S, Koushik K, …
• Metabolic reprogramming in mutant IDH1 glioma cells.
  PloS one 2015 Izquierdo-Garcia JL, Viswanath P, Eriksson P, Chaumeil MM, Pieper RO, Phillips JJ, Ronen SM
• Aminoazabenzimidazoles, a novel class of orally active antimalarial agents.
  Journal of medicinal chemistry 2014 Hameed P S, Chinnapattu M, Shanbag G, Manjrekar P, Koushik K, Raichurkar A, Patil V, Jatheendranath S, Rudrapatna SS, Barde SP, Rautela N, Awasthy D, Morayya S, Narayan C, Kavanagh S, Saralaya R, …
• Repositioning: the fast track to new anti-malarial medicines?
  Malaria journal 2014 Lotharius J, Gamo-Benito FJ, Angulo-Barturen I, Clark J, Connelly M, Ferrer-Bazaga S, Parkinson T, Viswanath P, Bandodkar B, Rautela N, Bharath S, Duffy S, Avery VM, Möhrle JJ, Guy RK, Wells T