Vinod P. Balachandran

Vinod P. Balachandran
Born1980 (age 45–46)
United States
Education
Cornell University

State University of New York at Stony Brook

Known for
Awards
  • Trailblazer Prize for Clinical Scientists, Foundation for the NIH
  • AAISCR Outstanding Scientist Award
  • 2025 TIME100 Most Influential People in Health
  • 2025 Washington Post’s Next 50
  • Elected Member, American Society for Clinical Investigation
Scientific career
Workplaces
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
WebsiteThe Vinod Balachandran Lab

Vinod P. Balachandran (born 1980) is an American surgical oncologist. As a surgeon and scientist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, he led the discovery and clinical development of RNA vaccines for pancreatic cancer. Balachandran is the founding Director of The Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and holds the Hutham S. Olayan and Robert F. Raucci chair. Balachandran’s research focuses on discovering new immunotherapies to treat pancreatic cancer.

Early life and education

Balachandran was born in 1980 in the United States.[1][2] His mother was the director of cytotechnology at the Albany College of Pharmacy, while his father was a professor of physics at Syracuse University. Balachandran earned a Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Cornell University in 2001.[1] He then received his Doctor of Medicine from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2006, followed by a residency in general surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.[3] Balachandran then completed fellowships in Tumor Immunology and Complex Surgical Oncology Fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering.[4]

Career

Balachandran joined the faculty at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 2015. While there, he has led research to identify new ways to treat pancreatic cancer with immunotherapy.[3] He is an Attending Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgeon and Laboratory Head in the Immuno-Oncology Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering, as well as a Professor of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medical College.[5] In 2024, Balachandran established The Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as its founding director, and was named the Hutham S. Olayan and Robert F. Raucci Chair in 2025.[6] Balachandran was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2026.[7]

Research

Balachandran and his team have been credited with discovering new mechanisms of natural anti-tumor immunity in pancreatic cancer patients and harnessing these findings to develop new clinical immunotherapies.[8]

In 2017, Balachandran’s lab discovered that rare long-term survivors of pancreatic cancer develop natural immunity to mutation-derived neoantigens.[9] The discovery challenged the assumption that pancreatic cancer, a tumor with few mutations, is immunologically inert, incapable of generating immunogenic neoantigens, and therefore unsuited for immunotherapy.[10][11] Balachandran then led clinical development of the first phase-1 clinical trial of personalized cancer neoantigen vaccines, autogene cevumeran, for pancreatic cancer.[12] The team discovered that vaccines triggered a strong immune response in half of the treated patients that correlated with delayed recurrence.[13][14] In long-term follow-up, the study found that eight of 16 vaccinated participants had a lasting immune response, and seven of those participants remained alive up to six years following treatment.[15]

In complementary work, Balachandran’s team discovered a new potential therapeutic target that boosts local immunity in pancreatic cancer. His research team found that the cytokine IL-33 can activate a unique type of immune cell enriched in long-term survivors of pancreatic cancer – group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) – to boost anti-tumor immunity.[8] Further studies in mice showed this is mediated by formation of tertiary lymphoid structures (TLSs), specialized clusters of immune cells that form in chronically inflamed tissues, including tumors, and help boost the immune response locally.[8] Based on these findings, the team has designed an IL-33 drug candidate.[8]

Awards

Selected Publications

  • Sethna, Zachary; Guasp, Pablo; Reiche, Charlotte; Milighetti, Martina; Ceglia, Nicholas; Patterson, Erin; Lihm, Jayon; Payne, George; Lyudovyk, Olga; Rojas, Luis A.; Pang, Nan; Ohmoto, Akihiro; Amisaki, Masataka; Zebboudj, Abderezak; Odgerel, Zagaa (March 27, 2025). "RNA neoantigen vaccines prime long-lived CD8+ T cells in pancreatic cancer". Nature. 639 (8056): 1042–1051. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08508-4. ISSN 0028-0836. PMC 11946889. PMID 39972124.
  • Amisaki, Masataka; Zebboudj, Abderezak; Yano, Hiroshi; Zhang, Siqi Linsey; Payne, George; Chandra, Adrienne Kaya; Yu, Rebecca; Guasp, Pablo; Sethna, Zachary M.; Ohmoto, Akihiro; Rojas, Luis A.; Cheng, Charlotte; Waters, Theresa; Solovyov, Alexander; Martis, Stephen (February 27, 2025). "IL-33-activated ILC2s induce tertiary lymphoid structures in pancreatic cancer". Nature. 638 (8052): 1076–1084. Bibcode:2025Natur.638.1076A. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08426-5. ISSN 0028-0836. PMC 11864983. PMID 39814891.
  • Rojas, Luis A.; Sethna, Zachary; Soares, Kevin C.; Olcese, Cristina; Pang, Nan; Patterson, Erin; Lihm, Jayon; Ceglia, Nicholas; Guasp, Pablo; Chu, Alexander; Yu, Rebecca; Chandra, Adrienne Kaya; Waters, Theresa; Ruan, Jennifer; Amisaki, Masataka (June 1, 2023). "Personalized RNA neoantigen vaccines stimulate T cells in pancreatic cancer". Nature. 618 (7963): 144–150. Bibcode:2023Natur.618..144R. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06063-y. ISSN 0028-0836. PMC 10171177. PMID 37165196.
  • Łuksza, Marta; Sethna, Zachary M.; Rojas, Luis A.; Lihm, Jayon; Bravi, Barbara; Elhanati, Yuval; Soares, Kevin; Amisaki, Masataka; Dobrin, Anton; Hoyos, David; Guasp, Pablo; Zebboudj, Abderezak; Yu, Rebecca; Chandra, Adrienne Kaya; Waters, Theresa (June 9, 2022). "Neoantigen quality predicts immunoediting in survivors of pancreatic cancer". Nature. 606 (7913): 389–395. Bibcode:2022Natur.606..389L. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-04735-9. ISSN 0028-0836. PMC 9177421. PMID 35589842.
  • Moral, John Alec; Leung, Joanne; Rojas, Luis A.; Ruan, Jennifer; Zhao, Julia; Sethna, Zachary; Ramnarain, Anita; Gasmi, Billel; Gururajan, Murali; Redmond, David; Askan, Gokce; Bhanot, Umesh; Elyada, Ela; Park, Youngkyu; Tuveson, David A. (March 5, 2020). "ILC2s amplify PD-1 blockade by activating tissue-specific cancer immunity". Nature. 579 (7797): 130–135. Bibcode:2020Natur.579..130M. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2015-4. ISSN 0028-0836. PMC 7060130. PMID 32076273.
  • Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative; Balachandran, Vinod P.; Łuksza, Marta; Zhao, Julia N.; Makarov, Vladimir; Moral, John Alec; Remark, Romain; Herbst, Brian; Askan, Gokce; Bhanot, Umesh; Senbabaoglu, Yasin; Wells, Daniel K.; Cary, Charles Ian Ormsby; Grbovic-Huezo, Olivera; Attiyeh, Marc (2017). "Identification of unique neoantigen qualities in long-term survivors of pancreatic cancer". Nature. 551 (7681): 512–516. Bibcode:2017Natur.551..512B. doi:10.1038/nature24462. ISSN 0028-0836. PMC 6145146. PMID 29132146.

References

  1. 1 2 "Wendy Wu and Vinod Balachandran". The New York Times. September 2, 2007. Archived from the original on November 26, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  2. ↑ "AAISCR Sponsored Outstanding Scientist Awardee". American Association of Indian Scientists in cancer Research Newsletter. October 2025. p. 11.
  3. 1 2 "Vinod P. Balachandran, MD - MSK Hepatopancreatobiliary Surgeon". www.mskcc.org. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  4. ↑ "Recognizing Innovation in Patient Care Through the Trailblazer Prize". FNIH. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Vinod Balachandran". Pershing Square Philanthropies. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  6. ↑ Group News, The Olayan (September 25, 2024). "Announcing The Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at MSK". The Olayan Group. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  7. ↑ "Vinod P. Balachandran, MD". The American Society for Clinical Investigation. Retrieved April 15, 2026.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "Cancer Researchers Uncover Mechanisms Behind the Formation of Tertiary Lymphoid Structures". Bioengineer.org. September 6, 2025.
  9. ↑ Gerety, Rowan Moore (December 1, 2025). "Personalized cancer vaccines are almost here—but federal funding cuts could derail them". Scientific American. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  10. ↑ PhD, Jonathan D. Grinstein (May 10, 2023). "Personalized mRNA Vaccines Offer Hope for Treating Pancreatic Cancer". GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News. Retrieved April 12, 2026.
  11. ↑ Lewis, Tanya (March 5, 2023). "Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise in Small Initial Trial". Scientific American. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  12. ↑ PhD, Jonathan D. Grinstein (May 10, 2023). "Personalized mRNA Vaccines Offer Hope for Treating Pancreatic Cancer". GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News. Retrieved April 12, 2026.
  13. ↑ Stabile, Angelica (February 20, 2025). "Experimental vaccine for common cancer shows potential in clinical trial". Fox News. Retrieved April 12, 2026.
  14. ↑ Genentech, Inc. (March 11, 2026). A Phase II, Open-Label, Multicenter, Randomized Study of the Efficacy and Safety of Adjuvant Autogene Cevumeran Plus Atezolizumab and mFOLFIRINOX Versus mFOLFIRINOX Alone in Patients With Resected Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma (Report). clinicaltrials.gov.
  15. ↑ Sullivan, Kelly; Kopf, Mariana; Thompson, Anne (April 18, 2026). "Pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial". NBC News. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  16. ↑ Staff, PanCAN (April 19, 2017). "Pancreatic Cancer Action Network Awards Research Grants to Promising Early-Career Scientists". Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  17. ↑ "Clinical Investigators | Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation". www.damonrunyon.org. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  18. ↑ "Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer Presidential Awards". www.sitcancer.org. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  19. ↑ "National Pancreas Foundation Rising Star Award" (PDF). The National Pancreas Foundation. 2018.
  20. ↑ "Stand Up To Cancer awards 5 'Phillip A. Sharp Innovation in Collaboration' grants". EurekAlert!. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Vinod Balachandran". Pershing Square Philanthropies. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  22. ↑ "Damon Runyon scientist Vinod P. Balachandran, MD, receives 2023 FNIH Trailblazer Prize | New Discoveries". www.damonrunyon.org. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Dr. Vinod Balachandran, who received the Yvonne Award 2024, was named to The Washington Post's Next 50 - OncoDaily". oncodaily.com. February 14, 2025. Retrieved April 11, 2026.
  24. ↑ "Welcome to AAISCR". www.aaiscr.org. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  25. ↑ "TIME100 Health: Vinod Balachandran". TIME. Archived from the original on May 21, 2025. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
  26. ↑ "Post Next 50". Washington Post. Retrieved April 14, 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.