Pavithra Viswanath, PhD

Title(s)Associate Professor, Radiology
SchoolSchool of Medicine
Address1700 4th Street, #304
San Francisco CA 94158
Phone415-514-4839
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    Collapse Biography 
    Collapse Education and Training
    St. Xavier's college, Goa, IndiaBS08/2000Microbiology
    Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, IndiaMS08/2003Biochemistry
    Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, IndiaPhD08/2007Biochemistry
    University of California San Francisco , San Francisco, CA2020Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion Training
    Collapse Awards and Honors
    UCSF Brain Tumor Center2017  - 2018Career Enhancement Program Award
    UCSF Brain Tumor Center2018  - 2019Career Enhancement Program Award
    Society for Neuro-oncology2019Inaugural Women in Neuro-oncology Basic/Translational Science Research Award
    Dept. of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, UCSF2019Margaret Hart Surbeck Travel Award

    Collapse Overview 
    Collapse Overview
    Dr. Pavithra Viswanath is an Associate Professor in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at UCSF. She graduated with a Ph D in Biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India. The overall vision of her research is to harness insights from tumor genetics, epigenetics, and biology to drive the preclinical development of novel, metabolic imaging biomarkers that will ultimately benefit patients by enabling the non-invasive assessment of tumor burden and response to therapy. In parallel, she will pinpoint metabolic vulnerabilities in the tumor and immune microenvironment that can be exploited for the development of novel therapeutic agents. Her long-term vision is to develop an integrated, clinically translatable metabolic therapy and imaging strategy for patients battling cancer.
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    Collapse Research Activities and Funding
    ATP Citrate Lyase as a Druggable Vulnerability in Mutant Isocitrate Dehydrogenase Gliomas
    Department of Defense Rare Cancer Research Program RA230335Sep 1, 2024 - Aug 31, 2027
    Role: Principal Investigator
    Combination metabolic therapy for diffuse midline glioma
    NIH R01CA292694Aug 7, 2024 - Jul 31, 2029
    Role: Principal Investigator
    Developing a novel tracer for imaging oncometabolic activity in cancer
    American Cancer Society RSG-24-1258893-01-CDPJul 1, 2024 - Jun 30, 2028
    Role: Principal Investigator
    Immunometabolic modulation of diffuse midline glioma response to therapy
    ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation P0575263Jul 1, 2024 - Jun 30, 2027
    Role: Principal Investigator
    Targeting And Imaging Serine Metabolism In The Tumor Microenvironment In Pediatric Brain Tumors
    CURE Childhood Cancer P0576724Jul 1, 2024 - Jun 30, 2026
    Role: Principal Investigator
    Synthetic combination therapy for diffuse midline gliomas
    NIH R21CA289565Apr 1, 2024 - Mar 31, 2026
    Role: Principal Investigator
    Spatial Mapping of Phospholipid Biosynthesis in Brain Tumors
    NIH R21CA286261Jan 1, 2024 - Dec 31, 2025
    Role: Principal Investigator
    Targeting metabolic vulnerabilities induced by the 1p19q codeletion in oligodendrogliomas
    NIH R21CA277325Jul 25, 2023 - Jun 30, 2025
    Role: Principal Investigator
    In vivo precision imaging of diffuse midline gliomas
    ChadTough Defeat DIPG Foundation P0567741Jul 1, 2023 - Jun 30, 2026
    Role: Principal Investigator
    In Vivo Precision Imaging Of Mutant Isocitrate Dehydrogenase Activity in Gliomas
    American Brain Tumor Association DG2200048Sep 1, 2022 - Aug 31, 2024
    Role: Principal Investigator
    Imaging a Hallmark of Cancer: Noninvasive Metabolic Imaging of TERT Expression in Brain Tumors
    Department of Defense CDMRP W81XWH201055315Sep 15, 2020 - Sep 14, 2022
    Role: Principal Investigator
    IMAGING TELOMERE MAINTENANCE MECHANISMS IN GLIOMAS
    NIH R01CA239288Feb 11, 2020 - Jan 31, 2025
    Role: Principal Investigator

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    Collapse Bibliographic 
    Collapse Publications
    Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Researchers can login to make corrections and additions, or contact us for help. to make corrections and additions.
    Newest   |   Oldest   |   Most Cited   |   Most Discussed   |   Timeline   |   Field Summary   |   Plain Text
    Altmetrics Details PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
    1. GABA production induced by imipridones is a targetable and imageable metabolic alteration in diffuse midline gliomas. bioRxiv. 2024 Jun 10. Batsios G, Udutha S, Taglang C, Gillespie AM, Lau B, Ji S, Phoenix T, Mueller S, Venneti S, Koschmann C, Viswanath P. PMID: 38915617; PMCID: PMC11195108.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:
    2. Telomerase reverse transcriptase induces targetable alterations in glutathione and nucleotide biosynthesis in glioblastomas. bioRxiv. 2023 Nov 16. Udutha S, Taglang C, Batsios G, Gillespie AM, Tran M, Ronen SM, Ten Hoeve J, Graeber TG, Viswanath P. PMID: 38014170; PMCID: PMC10680720.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:
    3. Imaging telomerase reverse transcriptase expression in oligodendrogliomas using hyperpolarized δ-[1-13C]-gluconolactone. Neurooncol Adv. 2023 Jan-Dec; 5(1):vdad092. Batsios G, Taglang C, Gillespie AM, Viswanath P. PMID: 37600229; PMCID: PMC10433788.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:
    4. Hyperpolarized δ-[1- 13C]gluconolactone imaging visualizes response to TERT or GABPB1 targeting therapy for glioblastoma. Sci Rep. 2023 03 30; 13(1):5190. Minami N, Hong D, Taglang C, Batsios G, Gillespie AM, Viswanath P, Stevers N, Barger CJ, Costello JF, Ronen SM. PMID: 36997627; PMCID: PMC10063634.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:Humans
    5. Imaging biomarkers of TERT or GABPB1 silencing in TERT-positive glioblastoma. Neuro Oncol. 2022 11 02; 24(11):1898-1910. 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. PMID: 35460557; PMCID: PMC9629440.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 5     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    6. A 13C/31P surface coil to visualize metabolism and energetics in the rodent brain at 3 Tesla. J Magn Reson. 2022 10; 343:107286. Vaidya MV, Zhang B, Hong D, Brown R, Batsios G, Viswanath P, Paska J, Wulf G, Grant AK, Ronen SM, Larson PEZ. PMID: 36075133; PMCID: PMC9721620.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions:    Fields:    Translation:Animals
    7. Deuterium Metabolic Imaging Reports on TERT Expression and Early Response to Therapy in Cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 08 15; 28(16):3526-3536. Batsios G, Taglang C, Tran M, Stevers N, Barger C, Gillespie AM, Ronen SM, Costello JF, Viswanath P. PMID: 35679032; PMCID: PMC9378519.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 11     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    8. Deuterium magnetic resonance spectroscopy enables noninvasive metabolic imaging of tumor burden and response to therapy in low-grade gliomas. Neuro Oncol. 2022 07 01; 24(7):1101-1112. Taglang C, Batsios G, Mukherjee J, Tran M, Gillespie AM, Hong D, Ronen SM, Artee Luchman H, Pieper RO, Viswanath P. PMID: 35091751; PMCID: PMC9248401.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 9     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    9. Acquisition and quantification pipeline for in vivo hyperpolarized 13 C MR spectroscopy. Magn Reson Med. 2022 04; 87(4):1673-1687. Hong D, Batsios G, Viswanath P, Gillespie AM, Vaidya M, Larson PEZ, Ronen SM. PMID: 34775639; PMCID: PMC8830804.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 1     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    10. Metabolic imaging detects elevated glucose flux through the pentose phosphate pathway associated with TERT expression in low-grade gliomas. Neuro Oncol. 2021 09 01; 23(9):1509-1522. Viswanath P, Batsios G, Ayyappan V, Taglang C, Gillespie AM, Larson PEZ, Luchman HA, Costello JF, Pieper RO, Ronen SM. PMID: 33864084; PMCID: PMC8408874.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 10     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    11. Deuterium Metabolic Imaging-Rediscovery of a Spectroscopic Tool. Metabolites. 2021 Aug 25; 11(9). Polvoy I, Qin H, Flavell RR, Gordon J, Viswanath P, Sriram R, Ohliger MA, Wilson DM. PMID: 34564385; PMCID: PMC8470013.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 11  
    12. Imaging 6-Phosphogluconolactonase Activity in Brain Tumors In Vivo Using Hyperpolarized δ-[1-13C]gluconolactone. Front Oncol. 2021; 11:589570. Batsios G, Taglang C, Cao P, Gillespie AM, Najac C, Subramani E, Wilson DM, Flavell RR, Larson PEZ, Ronen SM, Viswanath P. PMID: 33937017; PMCID: PMC8082394.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 5  
    13. Early Noninvasive Metabolic Biomarkers of Mutant IDH Inhibition in Glioma. Metabolites. 2021 Feb 13; 11(2). Radoul M, Hong D, Gillespie AM, Najac C, Viswanath P, Pieper RO, Costello JF, Luchman HA, Ronen SM. PMID: 33668509; PMCID: PMC7917625.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 13  
    14. Non-invasive assessment of telomere maintenance mechanisms in brain tumors. Nat Commun. 2021 01 04; 12(1):92. Viswanath P, Batsios G, Mukherjee J, Gillespie AM, Larson PEZ, Luchman HA, Phillips JJ, Costello JF, Pieper RO, Ronen SM. PMID: 33397920; PMCID: PMC7782549.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 11     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    15. Ferronostics: Measuring Tumoral Ferrous Iron with PET to Predict Sensitivity to Iron-Targeted Cancer Therapies. J Nucl Med. 2021 Jul 01; 62(7):949-955. Zhao N, Huang Y, Wang YH, Muir RK, Chen YC, Wei J, Hooshdaran N, Viswanath P, Seo Y, Ruggero D, Renslo AR, Evans MJ. PMID: 33246980; PMCID: PMC8882888.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 21     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    16. Glutamate Is a Noninvasive Metabolic Biomarker of IDH1-Mutant Glioma Response to Temozolomide Treatment. Cancer Res. 2020 11 15; 80(22):5098-5108. Subramani E, Radoul M, Najac C, Batsios G, Molloy AR, Hong D, Gillespie AM, Santos RD, Viswanath P, Costello JF, Pieper RO, Ronen SM. PMID: 32958546; PMCID: PMC7669718.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 12     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimals
    17. MR-detectable metabolic biomarkers of response to mutant IDH inhibition in low-grade glioma. Theranostics. 2020; 10(19):8757-8770. Molloy AR, Najac C, Viswanath P, Lakhani A, Subramani E, Batsios G, Radoul M, Gillespie AM, Pieper RO, Ronen SM. PMID: 32754276; PMCID: PMC7392019.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 19     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    18. In vivo detection of γ-glutamyl-transferase up-regulation in glioma using hyperpolarized γ-glutamyl-[1-13C]glycine. Sci Rep. 2020 04 10; 10(1):6244. Batsios G, Najac C, Cao P, Viswanath P, Subramani E, Saito Y, Gillespie AM, Yoshihara HAI, Larson P, Sando S, Ronen SM. PMID: 32277103; PMCID: PMC7148357.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 8     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    19. PI3K/mTOR inhibition of IDH1 mutant glioma leads to reduced 2HG production that is associated with increased survival. Sci Rep. 2019 07 19; 9(1):10521. Batsios G, Viswanath P, Subramani E, Najac C, Gillespie AM, Santos RD, Molloy AR, Pieper RO, Ronen SM. PMID: 31324855; PMCID: PMC6642106.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 26     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    20. In vivo investigation of hyperpolarized [1,3-13C2]acetoacetate as a metabolic probe in normal brain and in glioma. Sci Rep. 2019 03 04; 9(1):3402. Najac C, Radoul M, Le Page LM, Batsios G, Subramani E, Viswanath P, Gillespie AM, Ronen SM. PMID: 30833594; PMCID: PMC6399277.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 6     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    21. HDAC inhibition in glioblastoma monitored by hyperpolarized 13 C MRSI. NMR Biomed. 2019 02; 32(2):e4044. Radoul M, Najac C, Viswanath P, Mukherjee J, Kelly M, Gillespie AM, Chaumeil MM, Eriksson P, Delos Santos R, Pieper RO, Ronen SM. PMID: 30561869; PMCID: PMC6545173.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 12     Fields:    Translation:AnimalsCells
    22. Mutant IDH1 gliomas downregulate phosphocholine and phosphoethanolamine synthesis in a 2-hydroxyglutarate-dependent manner. Cancer Metab. 2018; 6:3. Viswanath P, Radoul M, Izquierdo-Garcia JL, Luchman HA, Gregory Cairncross J, Pieper RO, Phillips JJ, Ronen SM. PMID: 29619216; PMCID: PMC5881177.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 26  
    23. 2-Hydroxyglutarate-Mediated Autophagy of the Endoplasmic Reticulum Leads to an Unusual Downregulation of Phospholipid Biosynthesis in Mutant IDH1 Gliomas. Cancer Res. 2018 05 01; 78(9):2290-2304. Viswanath P, Radoul M, Izquierdo-Garcia JL, Ong WQ, Luchman HA, Cairncross JG, Huang B, Pieper RO, Phillips JJ, Ronen SM. PMID: 29358170; PMCID: PMC5932252.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 30     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    24. Clonal expansion and epigenetic reprogramming following deletion or amplification of mutant IDH1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017 10 03; 114(40):10743-10748. 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, Chang SM, Bollen AW, Molinaro AM, Bengtsson H, Olshen AB, Weiss S, Phillips JJ, Luchman HA, Costello JF. PMID: 28916733; PMCID: PMC5635900.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 83     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    25. Development of a rapid and reliable assay for in vitro determination of compound cidality against the asexual stages of Plasmodium falciparum. Acta Parasitol. 2016 Dec 01; 61(4):828-835. Viswanath P, Morayya S, Rautela N, Sinha A. PMID: 27787213.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 1     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    26. Mutant IDH1 Expression Drives TERT Promoter Reactivation as Part of the Cellular Transformation Process. Cancer Res. 2016 11 15; 76(22):6680-6689. 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. PMID: 27758882; PMCID: PMC5290072.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 38     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    27. Rapid Conversion of Mutant IDH1 from Driver to Passenger in a Model of Human Gliomagenesis. Mol Cancer Res. 2016 10; 14(10):976-983. Johannessen TA, Mukherjee J, Viswanath P, Ohba S, Ronen SM, Bjerkvig R, Pieper RO. PMID: 27430238; PMCID: PMC5065766.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 65     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    28. Hyperpolarized (13)C MR imaging detects no lactate production in mutant IDH1 gliomas: Implications for diagnosis and response monitoring. Neuroimage Clin. 2016; 12:180-9. Chaumeil MM, Radoul M, Najac C, Eriksson P, Viswanath P, Blough MD, Chesnelong C, Luchman HA, Cairncross JG, Ronen SM. PMID: 27437179; PMCID: PMC4939422.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 40     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    29. Mutant IDH1 expression is associated with down-regulation of monocarboxylate transporters. Oncotarget. 2016 Jun 07; 7(23):34942-55. Viswanath P, Najac C, Izquierdo-Garcia JL, Pankov A, Hong C, Eriksson P, Costello JF, Pieper RO, Ronen SM. PMID: 27144334; PMCID: PMC5085201.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 20     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    30. Molecular Imaging of Metabolic Reprograming in Mutant IDH Cells. Front Oncol. 2016; 6:60. Viswanath P, Chaumeil MM, Ronen SM. PMID: 27014635; PMCID: PMC4789800.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 20  
    31. Metabolic reprogramming of pyruvate dehydrogenase is essential for the proliferation of glioma cells expressing mutant IDH1. Mol Cell Oncol. 2016 Apr 01; 3(2):e1077922. Viswanath P, Ronen SM. PMID: 26985452; PMCID: PMC4789071.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 4  
    32. IDH1 Mutation Induces Reprogramming of Pyruvate Metabolism. Cancer Res. 2015 Aug 01; 75(15):2999-3009. 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. PMID: 26045167; PMCID: PMC4526330.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 71     Fields:    Translation:HumansCells
    33. Triaminopyrimidine is a fast-killing and long-acting antimalarial clinical candidate. Nat Commun. 2015 Mar 31; 6:6715. 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, Saralaya R, Raichurkar A, Rautela N, Roy Choudhury N, Ambady A, Nandishaiah R, Reddy J, Prabhakar KR, Menasinakai S, Rudrapatna S, Chatterji M, Jiménez-Díaz MB, Martínez MS, Sanz LM, Coburn-Flynn O, Fidock DA, Lukens AK, Wirth DF, Bandodkar B, Mukherjee K, McLaughlin RE, Waterson D, Rosenbrier-Ribeiro L, Hickling K, Balasubramanian V, Warner P, Hosagrahara V, Dudley A, Iyer PS, Narayanan S, Kavanagh S, Sambandamurthy VK. PMID: 25823686; PMCID: PMC4389225.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 24     Fields:    Translation:Animals
    34. Metabolic reprogramming in mutant IDH1 glioma cells. PLoS One. 2015; 10(2):e0118781. Izquierdo-Garcia JL, Viswanath P, Eriksson P, Chaumeil MM, Pieper RO, Phillips JJ, Ronen SM. PMID: 25706986; PMCID: PMC4338038.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 51     Fields:    Translation:Humans
    35. Aminoazabenzimidazoles, a novel class of orally active antimalarial agents. J Med Chem. 2014 Jul 10; 57(13):5702-13. 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, Bharath S, Viswanath P, Mukherjee K, Bandodkar B, Srivastava A, Panduga V, Reddy J, Prabhakar KR, Sinha A, Jiménez-Díaz MB, Martínez MS, Angulo-Barturen I, Ferrer S, Sanz LM, Gamo FJ, Duffy S, Avery VM, Magistrado PA, Lukens AK, Wirth DF, Waterson D, Balasubramanian V, Iyer PS, Narayanan S, Hosagrahara V, Sambandamurthy VK, Ramachandran S. PMID: 24914738.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 6     Fields:    Translation:HumansAnimalsCells
    36. Repositioning: the fast track to new anti-malarial medicines? Malar J. 2014 Apr 14; 13:143. 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. PMID: 24731288; PMCID: PMC4021201.
      View in: PubMed   Mentions: 18     Fields:    Translation:Animals
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