Vijayalakshmi Nandakumar, PhD, MS

Assistant Professor, University of Utah School of Medicine

Education

• Master’s Degree—Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Doctorate Degree—Genetic Molecular and Cell Biology, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
• Research Fellowship—Cellular and Molecular Immunology, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
• Research Fellowship—Infection and Immunology, Mayo Clinic
• Fellowship—Clinical Chemistry, Mayo Clinic

Certification/Affiliations

• American Board of Clinical Chemistry
• American Association for Clinical Chemistry
• Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists
• Association of Medical Laboratory Immunologists
• Clinical Immunology Society

Research Interests

• Autoimmune diseases
• Complement deficiency
• Protein immunology

Awards

• First place, Oral Presentation Contest, American Association for Clinical Chemistry Annual Scientific Meeting, 2020
• Abstract Recognition Award, American Association for Clinical Chemistry Annual Scientific Meeting, 2019
• Midwest Section Travel Grant Award, American Association for Clinical Chemistry, 2019
• U.S. Trainee Educational Grant Award, Mass Spectrometry: Applications to the Clinical Lab Annual Meeting, 2018
• Spotlight Research Recognition Award, Infection and Immunity, 2017
• Abstract Scholarship Award, American Thoracic Society Conference, 2015
• Best Project Award, Microbiology and Immunology Annual Retreat, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, 2012
• Scholar-in-Training Award, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Conference, AACR-AstraZeneca, 2008

Recent Publications

• Nandakumar V, et al. Effect of pH on the quantification of common chemistry analytes in body fluid specimens using Roche Cobas Analyzer for clinical diagnostic testing. AJCP. 2021 (preprint).
• Nandakumar V, et al. Evaluation of Phi clinical performance for the detection of prostate cancer in routine clinical practice. Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2021;51(1):3–11.
• Nandakumar V, et al. Evaluation of plasma ACTH stability using the Roche Elecsys immunoassay.Clin Biochem. 2020;81:59–62.
• Nandakumar V, et al. Mercury poisoning from a high seafood diet: a case report. In: Ketha H, Garg U, eds. Toxicology Cases for the Clinical and Forensic Laboratory. Elsevier Inc. 2020: 429–32.
• Delaney S, et al. Trust your gut: a case of persistent GI disturbances. In: Ketha H, Garg U, eds. Toxicology Cases for the Clinical and Forensic Laboratory. Elsevier Inc. 2020: 433–5.
• Kottom TJ, et al. A critical role for CARD9 in pneumocystis pneumonia host defense. Cellular Microbiology. 2020;22(10):e13235.
• Nandakumar V, et al. The now and beyond of tumor mutational burden as a predictor of response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Clin Chem. 2019;65(2):357.
• Kottom TJ, et al. The interaction of pneumocystis with the C-type lectin receptor mincle exerts a significant role in host defense against infection. J Immunol. 2017;198(9):3515–25.
• Nandakumar V, et al. Differential macrophage polarization from pneumocystis in immunocompetent and immunosuppressed hosts: potential adjunctive therapy during pneumonia. Infect Immun. 2017; 85(3): e00939-16.
• Huang XF, et al. Mysm1 is required for interferon regulatory factor expression in maintaining HSC quiescence and thymocyte development. Cell Death Dis. 2016;7(6):e2260.