Ongoing research and Research interests:

1. Studying hematopoietic stem cell characteristics to optimize cryopreservation strategies (Primary Investigator)
2. Studying graft Vs host disease causes and implications in a large clinical cohort post allogeneic stem cell transplantation (Co-primary investigator)
3. Analyzing cytokine based regimens in Autologous stem cell transplantation. (Co-Primary investigator)
4. Studying role of allogeneic transplantation in high risk lymphoma. (Primary investigator)
5. Analyzing low cost regimens in Myeloma therapy. (Primary investigator)
6. Studying Minimal Residual Disease in ALL – clinical impact (Co-Primary investigator)
7. Hematological and immunological profiles in CoVID-19 among hematology patients. (Primary investigator)
8. Studying microbiome in transplant (Primary investigator)
9. Clinical drug trials for new drugs.
10. Assessing epigenetic changes in setting of cancer and health. (Primary investigator)

Important recent publications:

• An Antithymocyte Globulin-Free Conditioning Regimen Using Fludarabine and Cyclophosphamide Is Associated with Good Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Matched Related Family Donor Transplantation for Aplastic Anemia. Biju George, Sharon Lionel, Sushil Selvarajan, Fouzia N. Abubacker, Anu Korula, Anup J. Devasia, Uday Kulkarni, Kavitha M. Lakshmi, Eunice Sindhuvi, Aby Abraham, Vikram Mathews. Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtct.2021.01.029.
• Haploidentical transplantation is feasible and associated with reasonable outcomes despite major infective complications – a single center experience from India. Biju George, Uday Kulkarni, Sharon Lionel, Anup J Devasia, Fouzia N Aboobacker, Kavitha M Lakshmi, Sushil Selvarajan, Anu Korula , Winsley Rose, George M Varghese, Priscilla Rupali, Balaji V, Joy Sarojini Michael, Asha Abraham, Aby Abraham, Vikram Mathews. Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtct.2021.09.020
• Outcomes of patients with hematologic malignancies and COVID-19 from the Hematologic Cancer Registry of India. Arihant Jain, Lingaraj Nayak, Uday Kulkarni, Nikita Mehra, Uday Yanamandra, Smita Kayal, Sharat Damodar, Joseph John, Prashant Mehta, Suvir Singh, Pritesh Munot, Sushil Selvarajan, Venkatraman Radhakrishnan, Deepesh Lad, Rajan Kapoor, Biswajit Dubashi, Bharath Ram S, Hasmukh Jain, Jayachandran PK, Jeyaseelan Lakshmanan, Thenmozhi Mani, Jayashree Thorat, Satyaranjan Das, Om Prakash, Biju George, Manju Sengar, and Pankaj Malhotra. Blood Cancer Journal. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41408-021-00599-w
• Real World Data of Concurrent Arsenic Trioxide and All-Trans Retinoic Acid with Minimal Use of Anthracycline in the Treatment of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia. Uday Prakash Kulkarni, Sushil Selvarajan, Sharon Lionel, Mithun Abraham Prakash, Hamenth Kumar Palani, Nithya Balasundaram, Arvind Venkatraman, Anu Korula, Anup J Devasia, Fouzia NA, Nancy Beryl Janet, Sukesh Chandran Nair, Aby Abraham, Thenmozhi Mani, Jeyaseelan Lakshmanan, Arun Kumar Arunachalam, Poonkuzhali Balasubramanian, Biju George, Vikram Mathews. Blood Cancer Journal (2022) 12:22. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41408-022-00619-3
• EASIX measured pre-transplantation predicts transplant-related mortality in patients with thalassemia major undergoing transplantation with thiotepa, treosulfan, and fludarabine conditioning. Uday P Kulkarni, Aswin Anand Pai, Kavitha ML, Sushil Selvarajan, Sharon Lionel, Anup J
  Devasia, Anu Korula, Fouzia NA, Eunice Sindhuvi, Aby Abraham, Alok Srivastava, Vikram Mathews, Biju George, Poonkuzhali Balasubramanian. Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, 2022. / https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtct.2022.05.001
• Single Dose of Ivermectin is not Useful in Patients with Hematological Disorders and COVID-19 Illness: A Phase II B Open Labelled Randomized Controlled Trial. Biju George, Mahesh Moorthy, Uday Kulkarni, Sushil Selvarajan, Priscilla Rupali, D. J. Christopher, T. Balamugesh, Winsley Rose, Kavitha M. Lakshmi, Anup J. Devasia, N. A. Fouzia, Anu Korula, Sharon Lionel, Aby Abraham & Vikram
  Mathews. Indian J Hematol Blood Transfus, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12288-022-01546-w
• Cyclophosphamide induced Hemorrhagic Myocarditis-Pericarditis: a rare but lethal complication in the setting of allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Sushil Selvarajan, Spandana Tammiraju, Sharon Lionel, Uday Kulkarni, Priyatesh Chandra Dwivedi, Fouzia Aboobacker, Anu Korula, Aby Abraham, Vikram Mathews, Alok Srivastava, Pratheesh George, John Jose, Thomas Alex Kodiatte, Elizabeth Joseph, Biju George. Bone Marrow Transplant (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-022-01745-z
• Molecular characterization of triple-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms by next-generation sequencing. Madhavi Maddali, Arvind Venkatraman, Uday Prakash Kulkarni, Sathya Mani, Santhosh Raj, Elanthenral Sigamani, Anu Korula, Fouzia N A, Sharon Anbumalar Lionel, Sushil Selvarajan, Marie Therese Manipadam, Aby Abraham, Biju George, Vikram Mathews & Poonkuzhali Balasubramanian. Ann Hematol. 2022 Sep;101(9):1987-2000. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00277-022-04920-w
• Real World Experience using Cidofovir in BK Polyomavirus Haemorrhagic Cystitis following Stem Cell Transplantation- Are Generics Equally Efficacious? Sharon Lionel, Sushil Selvarajan, Uday Kulkarni, Aby Abraham, Vikram Mathews, Kavitha M Lakshmi, Asha Mary Abraham, Biju George. J Clin of Diagn Res.2022; 16(8):OC20-OC24 https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2022/55240.16724
• Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation is a cost-effective alternative to enzyme replacement therapy in Gaucher Disease. Fouzia N Aboobacker, Uday P Kulkarni, Anu Korula, Anup J Devasia, Sushil Selvarajan, Sharon Lionel, Eunice Sindhuvi, Alok Srivastava, Biju George, Aby Abraham. BLOOD CELL THERAPY. Volume 5 (2022) Issue 3 No.1 Pages 69-74. https://doi.org/10.31547/bct-2021-020
• Decentralized manufacturing of anti CD19 CAR-T cells using CliniMACS Prodigy®: real-world experience and cost analysis in India. Hamenth Kumar Palani, Arun Kumar Arunachalam, Mohammed Yasar, Arvind Venkatraman, Uday Kulkarni, Sharon Anbumalar Lionel, Sushil Selvarajan, Anu Korula, Aby Abraham, Biju George, Jennifer E. Adair, Rimas Orentas, Boro Dropulic & Vikram Mathews. Bone Marrow Transplant (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-022-01866-5
• Profile and Predictors of Infection Following Anti-thymocyte Globulin or Anti-lymphocyte Globulin with Cyclosporine in Aplastic Anemia. Sharon Anbumalar Lionel, Sushil Selvarajan, Anu Korula, Uday Kulkarni, Anup Devasia, Fouzia N. Abubacker, Aby Abraham, Vikram Mathews, Kavitha M. Lakshmi & Biju George. Indian J Hematol Blood Transfus. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12288-022-01597-z
• Total marrow lymphoid irradiation and cyclophosphamide is associated with low toxicity and good outcomes in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and chronic myeloid leukemia in lymphoid blast crises – A phase I study. George B, Balakrishnan R, S P, Lionel S, Selvarajan S, Devasia AJ, Korula A, Lakshmi KM, Aboobacker FN, Kulkarni U, Godson HF, Raj JS, Abraham A, Backianathan S, Mathews V. Clin Transplant. 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/ctr.15010
• Intracranial bleeding in acute promyelocytic leukemia treated with arsenic trioxide based regimens is associated with induction mortality but not with relapse. Uday Prakash Kulkarni, Sushil Selvarajan, N. A. Fouzia, Sharon Lionel, Sukesh Chandran Nair, Poonkuzhali Balasubramanian, Thenmozhi Mani, Aby Abraham, Biju George & Vikram Mathews. Blood Cancer J.  (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41408-023-00873-z
• Fludarabine-Based Low-Intensity Conditioning for Fanconi Anemia is Associated with Good Outcomes in Aplastic Anemia but not in MDS – a Single-Center Experience. Sohini Chattopadhyay, Sharon Lionel, Sushil Selvarajan, Anup J Devasia, Anu Korula, Uday Kulkarni, Fouzia Na, Eunice Sindhuvi, Kavitha M Lakshmi, Alok Srivastava, Aby Abraham, Vikram Mathews, Biju George. Mediterr J Hematol Infect Dis 2023 Jul. http://dx.doi.org/10.4084/MJHID.2023.039
• Clinical significance of end of induction measurable residual disease monitoring in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia: A single center experience. Arunachalam AK, Selvarajan S, Mani T, Janet NB, Maddali M, Lionel SA, Kulkarni U, Korula A, Aboobacker FN, Abraham A, George B, Balasubramanian P, Mathews V. Cytometry B Clin Cytom. 2023 Aug 9. https://doi.org/10.1002/cyto.b.22139
• Haploidentical Natural Killer Cell Therapy as an Adjunct to Stem Cell Transplantation for Treatment of Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Kulkarni U, Arunachalam AK, Palani HK, Nair RR, Balasundaram N, Venkatraman A, Korula A, Selvarajan S, Lionel S, Balasubramanian P, Maddali M, Abraham A, George B, Mathews V. Cell Transplant. 2023 Jan. https://doi.org/10.1177/09636897231198178
• Improving Outcomes with Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplantation [HaploSCT] in Children Using Post-transplant Cyclophosphamide: a Single Center Experience. Biju George, Uday Kulkarni, Sharon Lionel, Anup J. Devasia, Fouzia N. Aboobacker, Kavitha M. Lakshmi, Sushil Selvarajan, Anu Korula, Aby Abraham & Vikram Mathews. Indian J Hematol Blood Transfus (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12288-023-01698-3

Educational Qualifications:

• DM Clinical Haematology – Christian Medical College, Vellore, India (2016)
• MD General Medicine – Christian Medical College, Vellore, India (2011)
• MBBS – Christian Medical College, Vellore, India (2002)
• CMC Junior Training Fellowship – Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (2022)

Academic Position:

Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Haematology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, India

Guidelines drafted:

Indian COVID Guidelines 2021 [ICG 2021], anticoagulation domain – working group member and evidence synthesis core member. https://indiacovidguidelines.org/anti-coagulation/

Indian COVID Guidelines 2021 [ICG 2022], anticoagulation domain – working group member and evidence synthesis core member. https://indiacovidguidelines.org/therapeutic-dose-vs-nontherapeutic-dose-of-thromboprophylaxis/

Recent awards:

Best oral presentation at the Asia-Pacific BMT Congress Conference 2022 (APBMT 2022)

Important Academic responsibilities:

• Review Editor on the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Medicine – specialty section Hematology.
• Reviewer for the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (JNCCN)
• Senior Research Officer – BIRAC-Haematology Clinical Trials Unit, CMC Vellore