Dr. Vasudevan’s laboratory research focuses on the validation of potential therapeutic targets found in pediatric solid tumors and cancer, in particular neuroblastoma. During his postdoctoral training in the Texas Children’s Cancer Center with Drs. Jed G. Nuchtern and Jianhua Yang, Dr. Vasudevan cloned two novel genes, NDSP and DUSP26, which were found to be specifically expressed in neuroblastoma and play critical roles in neuroblastoma tumor growth and chemosensitivity.

Dr. Vasudevan is furthering this work as the principal investigator of a research project that focuses on the function and regulation of both the p53 and MYCN pathways in neuroblastoma. His lab uses techniques such as retroviral-induced shRNA inhibition of protein expression, real-time PCR, chromatin immunoprecipitation, recombinant protein purification, in vitro proliferation and cytotoxicity assays, orthotopic mouse models of neuroblastoma, and in vivo bioluminescence imaging for molecular target validation. Dr. Vasudevan’s lab research hopes to validate multiple targets in order to find novel and less toxic therapeutic agents to improve outcomes in neuroblastoma.