Dhanansayan (Dhanu) Shanmuganayagam
Credentials: PhD
Position title: Assistant Professor, Dept of Animal and Dairy Sciences (CALS); Assistant Professor, Dept of Surgery (SMPH)
Email: dshanmug@wisc.edu
- Co-Director, Center for Biomedical Swine Research and Innovation
- Director, Biomedical & Genomic Research Group
- Director, UW Neurofibromatosis Translational Research Program
- Director, Translational Research Facility
- Honorary Fellow, UW Carbone Cancer Center
Research Interests
Dr. Shanmuganayagam’s research focuses on the development and utilization of pigs as homologous models to close the translational gap in human disease research, taking advantage of the similarities between pigs and humans in terms of genetics, anatomy, physiology, and immunology. He currently leads genetic engineering of swine at UW and is the Co-Director of the UW Center for Biomedical Swine Research and Innovation. His team has created numerous genetic porcine models, including ones for the study of xenotransplantation, and pediatric cancer-predisposition disorders such as neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). In the context of NF1, his lab is studying the role of alternative splicing of the nf1 gene on the tissue-specific function of neurofibromin and whether gene therapy to modulate the regulation of this splicing can be used as a viable treatment strategy for children with the disorder. Broadly, Dr. Shanmuganayagam’s program has numerous collaborations within and outside of UW in which swine models are used to drive research in other biomedical fields such as wound infections, heart disease, liver cirrhosis, metabolic disorders, imaging-guided radiotherapy systems, tumor ablation and resection devices, and ultrasound technologies.