Biography
Dr. Sandhya Vasan is the Director of the HJF component for MHRP. She was previously MHRP’s Associate Director for HIV Vaccine Research, and prior to that she served MHRP at AFRIMS in Bangkok for seven years as Science Director and head of the Nonhuman Primate Laboratory. At AFRIMS, she conducted preventive vaccine trials in follow-up to the RV144 HIV vaccine clinical trial. She also developed animal models to understand the mechanism of action of these vaccines and pursue novel HIV prevention strategies.
Dr. Vasan obtained her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before completing her MD at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard Medical School. After a residency in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University, she worked as a Henry Luce Foundation Fellow at the Communicable Disease Centre in Singapore, where she studied patterns of tuberculosis and HIV co-infection and worked with the National University of Singapore to conduct public health surveillance studies in rural Indonesia. From 2002-2011, Dr. Vasan conducted clinical trials and nonhuman primate studies of HIV vaccines and adjuvants and related immunology research at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and the Rockefeller University.
Recent Publications
Costanzo MC, Paquin-Proulx D, Schuetz A, Akapirat S, Shubin Z, Kim D, Wieczorek L, Polonis V, Trinh H, Rao M, Anenia H, Barrera MD, Boeckelman J, Nails B, Thapa P, Zemil M, Sacdalan C, Kroon E, Kaewboon B, Tipsuk S, Jongrakthaitae S, Gurunathan S, Sinangil F, Kim JH, Robb ML, Ake JA, O'Connell RJ, Pitisutthithum P, Nitayaphan S, Chariyalertsak S, Eller MA, Phanuphak N, Vasan S, for the RV306 and RV328 Study Groups. ALVAC-HIV and AIDSVAX® B/E vaccination induce improved immune responses compared to AIDSVAX® B/E vaccination alone. JCI insight, 2023.
Shangguan S, Ehrenberg PK, Geretz A, Butler L, Pinyakorn S, Sriplienchan S, Sacdalan C, Chomchey N, Phanuphak N, Tovanabutra S, Vasan S, Hsu D, Thomas R. HLA-B*57 and B*58 Associate with Predictors of Reservoir Size in an Acutely Treated HIV Cohort. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 2023 Mar;39(3):114-118. doi: 10.1089/AID.2022.0082. Epub 2023 Jan 10. PubMed PMID: 36465028; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9986004.
Mdluli T, Li Y, Pinyakorn S, Reeves DB, Cardozo-Ojeda EF, Yates A, Intasan J, Tipsuk S, Phanuphak N, Sacdalan C, Colby DJ, Kroon E, Crowell TA, Thomas R, Robb ML, Ananworanich J, de Souza M, Phanuphak P, Stieh DJ, Tomaka FL, Trautmann L, Ake JA, Hsu DC, Francisco LV, Vasan S, Rolland M. Acute HIV-1 infection viremia associate with rebound upon treatment interruption. Med. 2022 Sep 9;3(9):622-635.e3. doi: 10.1016/j.medj.2022.06.009. Epub 2022 Jul 22. PubMed PMID: 35870446; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9464709.
Li SS, Hickey A, Shangguan S, Ehrenberg PK, Geretz A, Butler L, Kundu G, Apps R, Creegan M, Clifford RJ, Pinyakorn S, Eller LA, Luechai P, Gilbert PB, Holtz TH, Chitwarakorn A, Sacdalan C, Kroon E, Phanuphak N, de Souza M, Ananworanich J, O'Connell RJ, Robb ML, Michael NL, Vasan S, Thomas R. HLA-B∗46 associates with rapid HIV disease progression in Asian cohorts and prominent differences in NK cell phenotype. Cell Host Microbe. 2022 Aug 10;30(8):1173-1185.e8. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2022.06.005. Epub 2022 Jul 15. PubMed PMID: 35841889; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9380401.
Crowell TA, Nitayaphan S, Sirisopana N, Wansom T, Kitsiripornchai S, Francisco L, Li Q, Dear N, O'Connell RJ, Pitisuttithum P, Vasan S. Factors associated with testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in men who have sex with men and transgender women in Bangkok, Thailand. AIDS Res Ther. 2022 Jun 21;19(1):25. doi: 10.1186/s12981-022-00449-0. PubMed PMID: 35729561; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9210729.
Fletcher CV, Kroon E, Schacker T, Pinyakorn S, Chomont N, Chottanapund S, Prueksakaew P, Benjapornpong K, Buranapraditkun S, Phanuphak N, Ananworanich J, Vasan S, Hsu D. Persistent HIV transcription and variable antiretroviral drug penetration in lymph nodes during plasma viral suppression. AIDS. 2022 Jun 1;36(7):985-990. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000003201. Epub 2022 Feb 18. PubMed PMID: 35184069; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9167254.
Corley MJ, Sacdalan C, Pang APS, Chomchey N, Ratnaratorn N, Valcour V, Kroon E, Cho KS, Belden AC, Colby D, Robb M, Hsu D, Spudich S, Paul R, Vasan S, Ndhlovu LC. Abrupt and altered cell-type specific DNA methylation profiles in blood during acute HIV infection persists despite prompt initiation of ART. PLoS Pathog. 2021 Aug;17(8):e1009785. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009785. eCollection 2021 Aug. PubMed PMID: 34388205; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8386872.
Pitisuttithum P, Nitayaphan S, Chariyalertsak S, Kaewkungwal J, Dawson P, Dhitavat J, Phonrat B, Akapirat S, Karasavvas N, Wieczorek L, Polonis V, Eller MA, Pegu P, Kim D, Schuetz A, Jongrakthaitae S, Zhou Y, Sinangil F, Phogat S, Diazgranados CA, Tartaglia J, Heger E, Smith K, Michael NL, Excler JL, Robb ML, Kim JH, O'Connell RJ, Vasan S. Late boosting of the RV144 regimen with AIDSVAX B/E and ALVAC-HIV in HIV-uninfected Thai volunteers: a double-blind, randomised controlled trial. Lancet HIV. 2020 Apr;7(4):e238-e248. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3018(19)30406-0. Epub 2020 Feb 6. PubMed PMID: 32035516; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7247755.
Hsu DC, Sunyakumthorn P, Wegner M, Schuetz A, Silsorn D, Estes JD, Deleage C, Tomusange K, Lakhashe SK, Ruprecht RM, Lombardini E, Im-Erbsin R, Kuncharin Y, Phuang-Ngern Y, Inthawong D, Chuenarom W, Burke R, Robb ML, Ndhlovu LC, Ananworanich J, Valcour V, O'Connell RJ, Spudich S, Michael NL, Vasan S. Central Nervous System Inflammation and Infection during Early, Nonaccelerated Simian-Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in Rhesus Macaques. J Virol. 2018 Jun 1;92(11). doi: 10.1128/JVI.00222-18. Print 2018 Jun 1. PubMed PMID: 29563297; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5952152.
Vasan S, Hurley A, Schlesinger SJ, Hannaman D, Gardiner DF, Dugin DP, Boente-Carrera M, Vittorino R, Caskey M, Andersen J, Huang Y, Cox JH, Tarragona-Fiol T, Gill DK, Cheeseman H, Clark L, Dally L, Smith C, Schmidt C, Park HH, Kopycinski JT, Gilmour J, Fast P, Bernard R, Ho DD. In vivo electroporation enhances the immunogenicity of an HIV-1 DNA vaccine candidate in healthy volunteers. PLoS One. 2011;6(5):e19252. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019252. Epub 2011 May 16. PubMed PMID: 21603651; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3095594.