Cancer Neuroscience: a new field in Neurooncology for deciphering the interaction of the nervous system with tumors
Biosketch
Dr. Varun Venkataramani is a group leader in the Department of Functional Neuroanatomy (head of department: Prof. Thomas Kuner, University Hospital Heidelberg) and the responsible scientist in the subgroup ‘Neuron-glioma synapses for glioma progression and therapy resistance’ in the laboratory of Prof. Frank Winkler (DKFZ Heidelberg, University Hospital Heidelberg). He did his MD thesis developing novel methods for superresolution microscopy to characterize synapses. In his PhD he discovered and characterized synaptic contacts on glioma cells under the supervision of Prof. Frank Winkler and Prof. Thomas Kuner. Currently, he is working on the role of synaptic contacts in brain tumor networks and other cancer entities.
Recent publications:
Glutamatergic synaptic input to glioma cells drives brain tumour progression.
Venkataramani V, Tanev DI, Strahle C, Studier-Fischer A, Fankhauser L, Kessler T, Körber C, Kardorff M, Ratliff M, Xie R, Horstmann H, Messer M, Paik SP, Knabbe J, Sahm F, Kurz FT, Acikgöz AA, Herrmannsdörfer F, Agarwal A, Bergles DE, Chalmers A, Miletic H, Turcan S, Mawrin C, Hänggi D, Liu HK, Wick W, Winkler F, Kuner T. Nature. 2019 Sep;573(7775):532-538. doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1564-x. Epub 2019 Sep 18. PMID: 31534219
Ativation of retinal neurons triggers tumour formation in cancer-prone mice.
Venkataramani V, Winkler F. Nature. 2021 Jun;594(7862):179-180. doi: 10.1038/d41586-021-01353-9. PMID: 34040239 No abstract available.
Disconnecting multicellular networks in brain tumours.
Venkataramani V, Schneider M, Giordano FA, Kuner T, Wick W, Herrlinger U, Winkler F. Nat Rev Cancer. 2022 Aug;22(8):481-491. doi: 10.1038/s41568-022-00475-0. Epub 2022 Apr 29. PMID: 35488036 Review.
Glioblastoma hijacks neuronal mechanisms for brain invasion.
Venkataramani V, Yang Y, Schubert MC, Reyhan E, Tetzlaff SK, Wißmann N, Botz M, Soyka SJ, Beretta CA, Pramatarov RL, Fankhauser L, Garofano L, Freudenberg A, Wagner J, Tanev DI, Ratliff M, Xie R, Kessler T, Hoffmann DC, Hai L, Dörflinger Y, Hoppe S, Yabo YA, Golebiewska A, Niclou SP, Sahm F, Lasorella A, Slowik M, Döring L, Iavarone A, Wick W, Kuner T, Winkler F. Cell. 2022 Aug 4;185(16):2899-2917.e31. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.06.054. Epub 2022 Jul 31. PMID: 35914528