University of California San Francisco

PI Tolani Bhairavi Vivi
Bhairavi (Vivi)
Tolani
PhD, MS

Assistant Professor of Surgery
Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery
Thoracic Oncology Laboratory

Address

2340 Sutter Street, #N222
San Francisco, CA 94115
United States

Email: [email protected]
Fax: 415-502-6779

Biography

Bhairavi Tolani, Ph.D. provides research mentorship and supervision to surgical residents in UCSF's program as well as visiting thoracic surgeons, technicians and high school students. Dr. Tolani's research is focused on developing targeted therapies, small molecule inhibitors and biologics, for lung cancer.

Over the past 13 years, Dr. Tolani's cancer research experience has been diverse including breast cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer and hematological malignancies spanning academia, industry and the National Institutes of Health. Prior to graduate school, she worked at 3 biotechnology companies [Invitrogen Life Technologies, Lonza, & Digene (Qiagen)] for 3 years. While at Digene, she contributed to the development of a test to detect cervical cancer in women. Concurrently she earned her M.S. in Biomedical Sciences while conducting her thesis research on cancer stem cells and the Hedgehog pathway in breast cancer at the National Cancer Institute.

Awards & Honors

Award Conferred By Date
Hellman Fellows Fund UCSF 2019
UCSF RAP Pilot Award UCSF 2019
Keller Entrepreneurship Fellow UC Davis 2014
"Best Poster" at Biology Interdepartmental Graduate Symposium University of Southern California 2010
"Outstanding Poster Presentation" at the Spring Research Festival The National Cancer Institute 2004

Education

Institution Degree Dept or School End Date
University of Southern California Ph.D. Molecular Biology 2013
Hood College M.S. Biomedical Sciences 2007
Hood College B.A. Biochemistry 2004

Program Affiliations

Thoracic Oncology Program

Thoracic Oncology Laboratory

UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center

UCSF Department of Surgery

Gopalakrishnan R, Matta H, Tolani B, Triche T, Bradner JE, Chaudhary PM (2014) Immunomodulatory Drugs are Efficacious against Primary Effusion Lymphoma by Targeting IZKF1, IRF4 and MYC in a CRBN-Dependent Manner and are Synergistic with BRD4 Inhibitors. [ASH poster abstract]

Tolani B, Ly J, Dangaj D, Powell DJ Jr, Danet-Desnoyers G, et al.. (2014) Characterization of the Tumor Microenvironment of a Humanized Mouse Model of ovarian cancer after treatment with anti-B7-H4 recombinant Antibodies. [AACR poster abstract published online]

Tolani B, Goodman M (2010) Binding & Deamination by Activation-Induced Cytidine Deaminase (AID) [Gordon Research Conference poster]

Grants and Funding

  • Pancreatic Cancer and Autophagy | UCSF RAP Pilot Award | 2019-07-01 - 2020-06-30 | Role: Principal Investigator
  • Autophagy Inhibition as a Therapeutic Strategy in Pancreatic Cancers | Hellman Family Awards for Early Career Faculty | 2019-07-01 - | Role: Principal Investigator

Research Narrative

Over the past 10 years, Dr. Tolani’s cancer research experience has been diverse including breast cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, lung cancer and hematological malignancies spanning academia, industry and the National Institutes of Health. Prior to graduate school, she worked at 3 biotechnology companies [Invitrogen Life Technologies, Lonza, & Digene (Qiagen)] for 3 years. While at Digene, she contributed to the development of a test to detect cervical cancer in women. Her work in industry earned her “Job Excellence” and “No Matter What it Takes” awards at Invitrogen Life Technologies and Lonza respectively. Concurrently she earned her M.S. in Biomedical Sciences while conducting her thesis research on cancer stem cells and the Hedgehog pathway in breast cancer at the National Cancer Institute.

Research Interests

Epigenetics & Virology

Small molecule inhibitors and biologics

Targeted therapies for lung and other cancers

Stem cell biology & cancer stem cells

Hedgehog and other developmental pathway signaling

Research Pathways

Basic Biomedical & Translational Research

Publications

MOST RECENT PUBLICATIONS FROM A TOTAL OF 17
  1. Ras-mutant cancers are sensitive to small molecule inhibition of V-type ATPases in mice.
    Tolani B, Celli A, Yao Y, Tan YZ, Fetter R, Liem CR, de Smith AJ, Vasanthakumar T, Bisignano P, Cotton AD, Seiple IB, Rubinstein JL, Jost M, Weissman JS| | PubMed
  2. The pleiotropic functions of autophagy in metastasis.
    Marsh T, Tolani B, Debnath J| | PubMed
  3. High-Throughput Screening: today's biochemical and cell-based approaches.
    Blay V, Tolani B, Ho SP, Arkin MR| | PubMed
  4. Differential gene expression identifies KRT7 and MUC1 as potential metastasis-specific targets in sarcoma.
    Jiang L, Tolani B, Yeh CC, Fan Y, Reza JA, Horvai AE, Xia E, Kratz JR, Jablons DM, Mann MJ| | PubMed
  5. A review of soft-tissue sarcomas: translation of biological advances into treatment measures.
    Hoang NT, Acevedo LA, Mann MJ, Tolani B| | PubMed
  6. Preclinical characterization of therapeutic antibodies targeted at the carboxy-terminus of Sonic hedgehog.
    Tolani B, Hoang NT, Acevedo LA, Giroux Leprieur E, Li H, He B, Jablons DM| | PubMed
  7. Heterogeneous Contributing Factors in MPM Disease Development and Progression: Biological Advances and Clinical Implications.
    Tolani B, Acevedo LA, Hoang NT, He B| | PubMed
  8. Review of the clinical applications and technological advances of circulating tumor DNA in cancer monitoring.
    Chang Y, Tolani B, Nie X, Zhi X, Hu M, He B| | PubMed
  9. Membrane-bound full-length Sonic Hedgehog identifies cancer stem cells in human non-small cell lung cancer.
    Giroux Leprieur E, Tolani B, Li H, Leguay F, Hoang NT, Acevedo LA, Jin JQ, Tseng HH, Yue D, Kim IJ, Wislez M, Wang C, Jablons DM, He B| | PubMed
  10. Gli promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition in human lung adenocarcinomas.
    Li H, Yue D, Jin JQ, Woodard GA, Tolani B, Luh TM, Giroux-Leprieur E, Mo M, Chen Z, Che J, Zhang Z, Zhou Y, Wang L, Hao X, Jablons D, Wang C, He B| | PubMed
  11. EMX2 Is a Predictive Marker for Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Lung Squamous Cell Carcinomas.
    Yue D, Li H, Che J, Zhang Y, Tolani B, Mo M, Zhang H, Zheng Q, Yang Y, Cheng R, Jin JQ, Luh TW, Yang C, Tseng HH, Giroux-Leprieur E, Woodard GA, Hao X, Wang C, Jablons DM, He B| | PubMed
  12. Immunomodulatory drugs target IKZF1-IRF4-MYC axis in primary effusion lymphoma in a cereblon-dependent manner and display synergistic cytotoxicity with BRD4 inhibitors.
    Gopalakrishnan R, Matta H, Tolani B, Triche T, Chaudhary PM| | PubMed
  13. Measurement of genome-wide DNA methylation predicts survival benefits from chemotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer.
    Mo ML, Ma J, Chen Z, Wei B, Li H, Zhou Y, Shi H, Tolani B, Jin JQ, Tseng HH, Shen D, Zhan Y, Li J, Jablons DM, Zhang RQ, Guo Y, He B, Zhou HM| | PubMed
  14. NEMO is essential for Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus-encoded vFLIP K13-induced gene expression and protection against death receptor-induced cell death, and its N-terminal 251 residues are sufficient for this process.
    Tolani B, Matta H, Gopalakrishnan R, Punj V, Chaudhary PM| | PubMed
  15. Targeting Myc in KSHV-associated primary effusion lymphoma with BET bromodomain inhibitors.
    Tolani B, Gopalakrishnan R, Punj V, Matta H, Chaudhary PM| | PubMed
  16. Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus oncoprotein K13 protects against B cell receptor-induced growth arrest and apoptosis through NF-κB activation.
    Graham C, Matta H, Yang Y, Yi H, Suo Y, Tolani B, Chaudhary PM| | PubMed
  17. Kaposi's sarcoma associated herpesvirus encoded viral FLICE inhibitory protein K13 activates NF-κB pathway independent of TRAF6, TAK1 and LUBAC.
    Matta H, Gopalakrishnan R, Graham C, Tolani B, Khanna A, Yi H, Suo Y, Chaudhary PM| | PubMed