Arun Viswanathan

PhD Candidate & Senior Research Fellow at Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB)

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

I am a PhD candidate and Senior Research Fellow at RGCB, working on obesity-driven pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) under Dr. K. B. Harikumar. My work centres on STAT3 signalling and how it reshapes the tumour immune microenvironment, and draws on a range of methods depending on the question, including spatial transcriptomics, LC-MS/MS proteomics, metabolomics, and Bayesian statistical modelling, to understand how obesity drives pancreatic cancer progression. My academic foundation is in Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (Pondicherry University).

Research Interests

My work sits at the intersection of tumour immunology, metabolism, and computational biology:

Publications

Peer-reviewed articles & preprints

2026
Viswanathan A, Seby J, Harikumar KB. Overweight status drives early tumor microenvironment reprogramming in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: a cell-type-resolved Bayesian hierarchical modeling and interactome analysis. bioRxiv. Preprint
2026
Keerthana CK, Rayginia TP, Kalimuthu K, et al., Viswanathan A, et al. Uttroside B, a US FDA-designated “Orphan Drug,” mitigates the development of hepatocellular carcinoma and its pulmonary metastasis via EGFR/ERK-mediated inhibition of SREBP-1 and STAT-3. Cell Death Discovery.
2024
Vijayan Y, James S, Viswanathan A, Aparna JS, Bindu A, et al. Targeting acid ceramidase enhances antitumor immune response in colorectal cancer. Journal of Advanced Research, 65, 73–87.
2023
Mohammed S, Bindu A, Viswanathan A, Harikumar KB. Sphingosine 1-phosphate signaling during infection and immunity. Progress in Lipid Research, 92, 101251.
2018
Subastri A, Viswanathan A, Sharma P, et al. Synthesis and characterisation of arsenic nanoparticles and its interaction with DNA and cytotoxic potential on breast cancer cells. Chemico-Biological Interactions, 295, 73–83.

View full list on Google Scholar →

Conference presentation

2026
STAT3-Mediated Immune Dysfunction and… (Abstract P29) Cancer Research, 86(13_Supplement).

Presented with support of the Travel Award, Frontiers in Cancer Science 2025 (Singapore).

Honors & awards

Best Oral Presentation (2nd place), Global Cancer Consortium Conference (GCC 2024)
Best Poster Presentation (Top 5), National Symposium for Biotechnology for Sustainable Development, 2025
Travel Award, Frontiers in Cancer Science 2025, Singapore

Curriculum Vitae

Download CV (PDF)

Experience

Senior Research Fellow & PhD Candidate Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology 2022 – present
Junior Research Fellow & PhD Candidate Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology 2020 – 2022
Guest Lecturer Al Salama College of Optometry & Management Studies 2017 – 2020

Education

PhD, Biotechnology Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology 2020 – present
M.Sc., Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Pondicherry University 2014 – 2016
B.Sc.Ed. Regional Institute of Education, Mysore 2009 – 2013

Contact

arunviswanathan91@gmail.com · arunv@rgcb.res.in

Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India