Research Summary

The goal of studies performed in my laboratory is to identify validated translational magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) metabolic biomarkers of oncogenic transformation and response to existing and emerging anti-cancer therapeutics.

I am a Professor in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at UCSF, a member of UCSF Brain Tumor Center  at the UCSF HDFCCC, and a member of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3). I have an international track record using MRS in preclinical models of cancer to investigate cellular metabolism, and to identify and mechanistically validate novel MRS-based biomarkers. Our studies use established and engineered cell lines and animal models; multinuclear MRS approaches, including thermal equilibrium and hyperpolarized 13C MRS, 31P MRS and 1H MRS; and a range of biochemical, cell, and molecular biological assays, and our major focus is the study of brain tumors.

Current funded projects in the lab, in collaboration with members of the HDFCCC Brain Tumor Center focus on understanding the metabolic reprogramming of mutant IDH tumors and mutant TERT promoter tumors, as well as their significance for therapeutic targeting, metabolic imaging of response to targeted therapies in sensitive and resistant models, and imaging of response to emerging immunotherapies.

Research Funding

  • February 11, 2020 - January 31, 2025 - IMAGING TELOMERE MAINTENANCE MECHANISMS IN GLIOMAS , Co-Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA239288
  • February 5, 2013 - February 28, 2023 - Metabolic Reprogramming in Brain Tumors , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA172845
  • April 1, 2016 - March 31, 2021 - Metabolic Imaging of Brain Tumor Response to Therapy , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R01CA197254
  • December 1, 2015 - November 30, 2018 - Hyperpolarized arginine imaging of inflammatory cells and their inhibition in GBM , Principal Investigator . Sponsor: NIH, Sponsor Award ID: R21CA201453

Education

Hebrew University, Israel, BSc, 1981, Chemistry/Biochemistry
San Jose State University, California, MS, 1986, Chemistry
Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, PhD, 1991, Chemical Physics

Honors & Awards

  • 2016
    Senior Fellow, International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

  • 2015-2018
    Board of Trustees, World Molecular Imaging Society

  • 2013
    Distinguished Investigator, Academy of Radiology Research

Selected Publications

  1. Minami N, Hong D, Taglang C, Batsios G, Gillespie AM, Viswanath P, Stevers N, Barger CJ, Costello JF, Ronen SM. Hyperpolarized δ-[1- 13C]gluconolactone imaging visualizes response to TERT or GABPB1 targeting therapy for glioblastoma. Sci Rep. 2023 03 30; 13(1):5190.  View on PubMed
  2. 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. Imaging biomarkers of TERT or GABPB1 silencing in TERT-positive glioblastoma. Neuro Oncol. 2022 11 02; 24(11):1898-1910.  View on PubMed
  3. Vaidya MV, Zhang B, Hong D, Brown R, Batsios G, Viswanath P, Paska J, Wulf G, Grant AK, Ronen SM, Larson PEZ. A 13C/31P surface coil to visualize metabolism and energetics in the rodent brain at 3 Tesla. J Magn Reson. 2022 10; 343:107286.  View on PubMed
  4. Batsios G, Taglang C, Tran M, Stevers N, Barger C, Gillespie AM, Ronen SM, Costello JF, Viswanath P. Deuterium Metabolic Imaging Reports on TERT Expression and Early Response to Therapy in Cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 08 15; 28(16):3526-3536.  View on PubMed
  5. Taglang C, Batsios G, Mukherjee J, Tran M, Gillespie AM, Hong D, Ronen SM, Artee Luchman H, Pieper RO, Viswanath P. 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.  View on PubMed
  6. Hong D, Batsios G, Viswanath P, Gillespie AM, Vaidya M, Larson PEZ, Ronen SM. Acquisition and quantification pipeline for in vivo hyperpolarized 13 C MR spectroscopy. Magn Reson Med. 2022 04; 87(4):1673-1687.  View on PubMed
  7. Viswanath P, Batsios G, Ayyappan V, Taglang C, Gillespie AM, Larson PEZ, Luchman HA, Costello JF, Pieper RO, Ronen SM. 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.  View on PubMed
  8. Batsios G, Taglang C, Cao P, Gillespie AM, Najac C, Subramani E, Wilson DM, Flavell RR, Larson PEZ, Ronen SM, Viswanath P. Imaging 6-Phosphogluconolactonase Activity in Brain Tumors In Vivo Using Hyperpolarized δ-[1-13C]gluconolactone. Front Oncol. 2021; 11:589570.  View on PubMed
  9. Radoul M, Hong D, Gillespie AM, Najac C, Viswanath P, Pieper RO, Costello JF, Luchman HA, Ronen SM. Early Noninvasive Metabolic Biomarkers of Mutant IDH Inhibition in Glioma. Metabolites. 2021 Feb 13; 11(2).  View on PubMed
  10. Viswanath P, Batsios G, Mukherjee J, Gillespie AM, Larson PEZ, Luchman HA, Phillips JJ, Costello JF, Pieper RO, Ronen SM. Non-invasive assessment of telomere maintenance mechanisms in brain tumors. Nat Commun. 2021 01 04; 12(1):92.  View on PubMed
  11. Subramani E, Radoul M, Najac C, Batsios G, Molloy AR, Hong D, Gillespie AM, Santos RD, Viswanath P, Costello JF, Pieper RO, Ronen SM. Glutamate Is a Noninvasive Metabolic Biomarker of IDH1-Mutant Glioma Response to Temozolomide Treatment. Cancer Res. 2020 11 15; 80(22):5098-5108.  View on PubMed
  12. Jones LE, Hilz S, Grimmer MR, Mazor T, Najac C, Mukherjee J, McKinney A, Chow T, Pieper RO, Ronen SM, Chang SM, Phillips JJ, Costello JF. Patient-derived cells from recurrent tumors that model the evolution of IDH-mutant glioma. Neurooncol Adv. 2020 Jan-Dec; 2(1):vdaa088.  View on PubMed
  13. Molloy AR, Najac C, Viswanath P, Lakhani A, Subramani E, Batsios G, Radoul M, Gillespie AM, Pieper RO, Ronen SM. MR-detectable metabolic biomarkers of response to mutant IDH inhibition in low-grade glioma. Theranostics. 2020; 10(19):8757-8770.  View on PubMed
  14. Batsios G, Najac C, Cao P, Viswanath P, Subramani E, Saito Y, Gillespie AM, Yoshihara HAI, Larson P, Sando S, Ronen SM. 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.  View on PubMed
  15. Chung BT, Chen HY, Gordon J, Mammoli D, Sriram R, Autry AW, Le Page LM, Chaumeil MM, Shin P, Slater J, Tan CT, Suszczynski C, Chang S, Li Y, Bok RA, Ronen SM, Larson PEZ, Kurhanewicz J, Vigneron DB. First hyperpolarized [2-13C]pyruvate MR studies of human brain metabolism. J Magn Reson. 2019 12; 309:106617.  View on PubMed
  16. Batsios G, Viswanath P, Subramani E, Najac C, Gillespie AM, Santos RD, Molloy AR, Pieper RO, Ronen SM. 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.  View on PubMed
  17. Najac C, Radoul M, Le Page LM, Batsios G, Subramani E, Viswanath P, Gillespie AM, Ronen SM. 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.  View on PubMed
  18. Radoul M, Najac C, Viswanath P, Mukherjee J, Kelly M, Gillespie AM, Chaumeil MM, Eriksson P, Delos Santos R, Pieper RO, Ronen SM. HDAC inhibition in glioblastoma monitored by hyperpolarized 13 C MRSI. NMR Biomed. 2019 02; 32(2):e4044.  View on PubMed
  19. Kurhanewicz J, Vigneron DB, Ardenkjaer-Larsen JH, Bankson JA, Brindle K, Cunningham CH, Gallagher FA, Keshari KR, Kjaer A, Laustsen C, Mankoff DA, Merritt ME, Nelson SJ, Pauly JM, Lee P, Ronen S, Tyler DJ, Rajan SS, Spielman DM, Wald L, Zhang X, Malloy CR, Rizi R. Hyperpolarized 13C MRI: Path to Clinical Translation in Oncology. Neoplasia. 2019 01; 21(1):1-16.  View on PubMed
  20. Taglang C, Korenchan DE, von Morze C, Yu J, Najac C, Wang S, Blecha JE, Subramaniam S, Bok R, VanBrocklin HF, Vigneron DB, Ronen SM, Sriram R, Kurhanewicz J, Wilson DM, Flavell RR. Late-stage deuteration of 13C-enriched substrates for T1 prolongation in hyperpolarized 13C MRI. Chem Commun (Camb). 2018 May 17; 54(41):5233-5236.  View on PubMed

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