Sridevi Yadavilli, MD, Ph.D.

Dr. Sridevi Yadavilli’s research spans molecular oncology, preclinical model development, and therapeutic innovation, with a particular focus on pediatric brain tumors. She has been instrumental in developing a robust preclinical research core, allowing for large-scale drug testing and novel therapeutic delivery approaches. Her expertise in orthotopic mouse models has facilitated groundbreaking investigations into therapies such as ONC201 and Paxalisib, bringing preclinical findings closer to clinical application.

Trained as a physician-scientist, Dr. Yadavilli earned her MBBS from Andhra Medical College in India before pursuing a PhD in Environmental Toxicology at Southern University and A&M College. Her postdoctoral research at Pennington Biomedical Research Center sharpened her expertise in DNA damage and repair, which now informs her translational work in tumor biology. Since joining Children’s National, she has established novel animal research methodologies such as longitudinal brain biopsies, convection-enhanced drug delivery (CED) and osmotic pump-based treatments, technologies that have the potential to transform the landscape of pediatric neuro-oncology research.

Beyond laboratory research, she has played a crucial role in forging collaborations across academia, industry, and pharmaceutical partners. These partnerships have not only expanded the scope of experimental therapeutics for pediatric gliomas but have also accelerated the transition from preclinical discoveries to clinical trials. Her contributions to tumor heterogeneity research and biomarker discovery continue to inform precision medicine strategies, deepening our understanding of resistance mechanisms in aggressive pediatric gliomas. A driving force behind innovations in pediatric brain tumor research, Dr. Yadavilli remains committed to advancing therapies that improve both survival and quality of life for children diagnosed with brain tumors.

Papers in Refereed Journals

  1. Bonner ER, Dawood A, Gordish-Dressman H, Eze A, Bhattacharya S, Yadavilli S, Mueller S, Waszak SM, Nazarian J. Pan-cancer atlas of somatic core and linker histone mutations. NPJ Genom Med. 2023 Aug 28;8(1):23. doi: 10.1038/s41525-023-00367-8. PMID: 37640703; PMCID: PMC10462747.
  2. Jackson ER, Duchatel RJ, Staudt DE, Persson ML, Mannan A, Yadavilli S, Parackal S, Game S, Chong WC, Jayasekara WSN, Le Grand M, Kearney PS, Douglas AM, Findlay IJ, Germon ZP, McEwen HP, Beitaki TS, Patabendige A, Skerrett-Byrne DA, Nixon B, Smith ND, Day B, Manoharan N, Nagabushan S, Hansford JR, Govender D, McCowage GB, Firestein R, Howlett M, Endersby R, Gottardo NG, Alvaro F, Waszak SM, Larsen MR, Colino-Sanguino Y, Valdés-Mora F, Rakotomalala A, Meignan S, Pasquier E, Andre N, Hulleman E, Eisenstat DD, Vitanza NA, Nazarian J, Koschmann C, Mueller S, Cain JE, Dun MD. ONC201 in combination with paxalisib for the treatment of H3K27-altered diffuse midline glioma. Cancer Res. 2023 May 5;83(14):2421–37. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-23-0186. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37145169; PMCID: PMC10345962
  3. Kline C, Jain P, Kilburn L, Bonner ER, Gupta N, Crawford JR, Banerjee A, Packer RJ, Villanueva-Meyer J, Luks T, Zhang Y, Kambhampati M, Zhang J, Yadavilli S, Zhang B, Gaonkar KS, Rokita JL, Kraya A, Kuhn J, Liang W, Byron S, Berens M, Molinaro A, Prados M, Resnick A, Waszak SM, Nazarian J, Mueller S. Upfront Biology-Guided Therapy in Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma: Therapeutic, Molecular, and Biomarker Outcomes from PNOC003. Clin Cancer Res. 2022 Sep 15;28(18):3965-3978. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-0803. PMID: 35852795; PMCID: PMC9475246.
  4. Przystal JM, Cianciolo Cosentino C, Yadavilli S, Zhang J, Laternser S, Bonner ER, Prasad R, Dawood AA, Lobeto N, Chin Chong W, Biery MC, Myers C, Olson JM, Panditharatna E, Kritzer B, Mourabit S, Vitanza NA, Filbin MG, de Iuliis GN, Dun MD, Koschmann C, Cain JE, Grotzer MA, Waszak SM, Mueller S, Nazarian J. Imipridones affect tumor bioenergetics and promote cell lineage differentiation in diffuse midline gliomas. Neuro Oncol. 2022 Sep 1;24(9):1438-1451. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noac041. PMID: 35157764; PMCID: PMC 9435508.
  5. Fincher JA, Korte AR, Yadavilli S , Morris NJ , Vertes A . Multimodal imaging of biological tissues using combined MALDI and NAPA-LDI mass spectrometry for enhanced molecular coverage. Analyst. 2020 Oct 26;145(21):6910-6918. doi: 10.1039/d0an00836b. PMID: 32840500.
  6. Bailey CP, Figueroa M, Gangadharan A, Yang Y, Romero MM, Kennis BA, Yadavilli S, Henry V, Collier T, Monje M, Lee DA, Wang L, Nazarian J, Gopalakrishnan V, Zaky W, Becher OJ, Chandra J. Pharmacologic inhibition of lysine-specific demethylase 1 as a therapeutic and immune-sensitization strategy in pediatric high-grade glioma. Neuro Oncol. 2020 Sep 29;22(9):1302-1314. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noaa058. PMID: 32166329; PMCID: PMC7523459.
  7. Kambhampati M, Panditharatna E, Yadavilli S, Saoud K, Lee S, Eze A, Almira-Suarez MI, Hancock L, Bonner ER, Gittens J, Stampar M, Gaonkar K, Resnick AC, Kline C, Ho CY, Waanders AJ, Georgescu MM, Rance NE, Kim Y, Johnson C, Rood BR, Kilburn LB, Hwang EI, Mueller S, Packer RJ, Bornhorst M, Nazarian J. Harmonization of postmortem donations for pediatric brain tumors and molecular characterization of diffuse midline gliomas. Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 2;10(1):10954. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-67764-2. PMID: 32616776; PMCID: PMC7331588.
  8. Fincher JA, Korte AR, Dyer JE, Yadavilli S, Morris NJ, Jones DR, Shanmugam VK, Pirlo RK, Vertes A. Mass spectrometry imaging of triglycerides in biological tissues by laser desorption ionization from silicon nanopost arrays. J Mass Spectrom. 2020 Apr;55(4):e4443. doi: 10.1002/jms.4443. Epub 2019 Dec 2. PMID: 31524963
  9. Fincher JA, Dyer JE, Korte AR, Yadavilli S, Morris NJ, Vertes A. Matrix-free mass spectrometry imaging of mouse brain tissue sections on silicon nanopost arrays. J Comp Neurol. 2019 Sep 1;527(13):2101-2121. doi: 10.1002/cne.24566. Epub 2018 Dec 5. PMID: 30358893.
  10. Powell AB, Yadavilli S, Saunders D, Van Pelt S, Chorvinsky E, Burga RA, Albihani S, Hanley PJ, Xu Z, Pei Y, Yvon ES, Hwang EI, Bollard CM, Nazarian J, Cruz CRY. Medulloblastoma rendered susceptible to NK-cell attack by TGFβ neutralization. J Transl Med. 2019 Sep 23;17(1):321. doi: 10.1186/s12967-019-2055-4. PMID: 31547819; PMCID: PMC6757414.