Ramesh Balusu, Ph.D.

Professional Background

Dr. Ramesh Balusu received his Ph.D. degree in Microbiology from Osmania University, India. He started his postdoctoral training at the University of Florida, studying DNA repair in colon and breast cancers. He continued his postdoctoral training at the Medical College of Georgia in developing targeted therapies for hematologic malignancies. Dr. Balusu is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapeutics at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

• PhD, Microbiology, Osmania University, Hyderabad, India
• Post Doctoral Fellowship, Cancer Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
• Post Doctoral Fellowship, Hematology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA

• American Society of Hematology, ASH, Member, 2007 - Present
• American Society for Cancer Research, AACR, Member, 2003 - Present

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Research

Overview

Developing Novel Targeted Therapies for Leukemias/Lymphomas with Poor Prognosis

Our long-term goals in basic and translational research are to identify novel molecular targets and develop targeted therapies using in vitro and in vivo models of leukemia and lymphoma to benefit patients with these malignancies. Our research is mainly focused on understanding Nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) and NPM1 fusion genes (NPM1-ALK, NPM1-TYK2, NPM1-MLF1, and NPM1-RARA) oncobiology and developing precision medicine for leukemias/lymphomas with these genetic abnormalities (PMID: 35042970; 21719597; 30015632; 29157973; 25035215; 33514657). We are also developing FLT3-targeted and HSP90/associated co-chaperone targeted therapies in these hematologic malignancies (PMID: 30696805). Most importantly, our group actively collaborates with clinicians to translate our benchside findings to the bedside, as evidenced by our most recent study (PMID: 34242968).

• Kuravi, Sudhakiranmayi , Baker, Riley., W, Mushtaq, Muhammad ., U, Saadi, Irfan, Lin, Tara., L, Vivian, Carolyn., J, Valluripalli, Anusha, Abhyankar, Sunil, Ganguly, Siddhartha, Cui, Wei, Elenitoba-Johnson, Kojo ., S.J., Welch, Danny., R, Jensen, Roy., A, Saunthararajah, Yogen, McGuirk, Joseph., P, Balusu, Ramesh. 2022. Functional Characterization of NPM1-TYK2 Fusion Oncogene . NPJ Precision Oncology, 6 (1), 1-10
• Subbiah, Vivek, Kuravi, Sudhakiranmayi, Ganguly, Siddhartha , Welch, Danny ., R, Vivian, Carolyn ., J, Mushtaq, Muhammad ., U, Hegde, Aparna , Iyer, Swami , Behrang, Amini , Ali, Siraj ., M, Madison, Russell ., W, Venstrom, Jeffrey ., M, Jensen, Roy., A, McGuirk, Joseph., P, Amin, Hesham., M, Balusu, Ramesh. 2021. Precision Therapy with anaplastic lymphoma kinase inhibitor ceritinib in ALK-rearranged Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma. ESMO Open, 6 (4), 100172
• Kuravi, Sudhakiranmayi , Cheng, Janice , Fangman, Gabrielle , Polireddy, Kishore, McCormick, Sophia, Lin, Tara., L, Singh, Anuragh., K, Abhyankar, Sunil, Ganguly, Siddhartha , Welch, Danny ., R, Jensen, Roy., A, McGuirk, Joseph., P, Balusu, Ramesh. 2021. Preclinical evaluation of gilteritinib on NPM1-ALK driven Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma Cells. Molecular Cancer Research, 19, 913-920
• Kuravi, Sudhakiranmayi, Parrott, Parrott, Mudduluru, Giridhar, Cheng, Janice, Ganguly, Siddhartha, Saunthararajah, Yogen, Jensen, Roy., A, Blagg, Brian., S, McGuirk, Joseph., P, Balusu, Ramesh . 2019. CDC37 as a novel target for the treatment of NPM1-ALK expressing anaplastic large cell lymphomas. Blood Cancer Journal, 9 (2), 14
• Ganguly, Siddhartha, Kuravi, Sudhakiranmayi, Alleboina, Satyanarayana, Mudduluru, Giridhar, Jensen, Roy., A, McGuirk, Joseph., P, Balusu, Ramesh. 2019. Targeted Therapy for EBV-Associated B-cell Neoplasms. Molecular Cancer Research, 17 (4), 839-844
• Gu, Xiaorong , Ebrahem, Quteba , Mahfouz, Reda ., Z, Hasipek, Metis , Enane, Francis , Radivoyevitch,, Tomas , Rapin, Nicolas, Przychodzen, Bartlomiej , Hu, Zhenbo , Balusu, Ramesh, Cotta, Claudiu ., V, Wald, David , Argueta, Christian , Landesman, Yosef, Maria Paola Martelli, Maria ., Paola, Falini, Brunangelo , Carraway, Hetty , Porse,, Bo ., T, Maciejewsk, Jaroslaw ., M, Jha, Babal ., K, Saunthararajah, Yogen. 2018. Leukemogenic nucleophosmin mutation disrupts the transcription factor hub that regulates granulomonocytic fates. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 128 (10), 4260-4279
• Kunchala, Preethi, Kuravi, Sudhakiranmayi, Jensen, Roy., A, McGuirk, Joseph, Balusu, Ramesh. 2018. When the good go bad: Mutant NPM1 in acute myeloid leukemia. BLOOD REVIEWS, 32 (3), 167-183
• Balusu, Ramesh, Fiskus, Warren, Rao, Rekha, Chong, Daniel ., G, Nalluri, Srilatha , Mudunuru, Uma, Ma, Hongwei, Chen, Lei , Venkannagari, Sreedhar, Ha, Kyungsoo , Abhyankar, Sunil , Williams, Casey , McGuirk, Joseph., P, Ustun, Celalettin , Bhalla, Kapil., N. 2011. Targeting levels or oligomerization of nucleophosmin 1 induces differentiation and loss of survival of human AML cells with mutant NPM1. Blood, 118 (11), 3096-106