Vel Murugan

Vel Murugan

Director of Clinical Research,
Biodesign Center for Personalized Diagnostics
Other ASU affiliations
Health Solutions Ambassador, College of Health Solutions
Research Professor and Director of Clinical Research, Personalized Diagnostics Faculty
Senior Global Futures Scientist, Global Futures Scientists and Scholars
  • [email protected]
  • Phone: 480-727-0402
  • ‌
  • Biodesign A240A 1001 S McAllister Ave. Tempe, AZ 85287
  • Mail code: 6401
    Campus: Tempe
  • ‌
Biography Research Teaching Public Work Industry Experience
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Long Bio

Dr. Vel Murugan is a molecular biologist with extensive expertise in diagnostic test development and implementation, multiomics-based AI-driven biomarker discovery, molecular mechanisms of respiratory infections, vaccine immunology, and translational research. He serves as Research Professor and Director of Clinical Research at the Health Observatory, College of Health Solutions, and the Biodesign Center for Personalized Diagnostics at Arizona State University.

Dr. Murugan earned his PhD from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and completed postdoctoral training at The University of Texas at Austin and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He also holds an MBA from Northeastern University. His early research spans cell cycle regulation, cancer biology, vaccine discovery, and infectious disease biology, including leading assay development to evaluate the efficacy of an attenuated malaria vaccine at Sanaria, Inc.

With more than 70 peer-reviewed publications, reviews, and book chapters, Dr. Murugan’s work bridges fundamental biology and clinical translation. At ASU, he led the development of high-throughput diagnostic assays to detect and quantify human radiation exposure and established research programs focused on epigenetic responses to environmental exposures. His laboratory develops multiomics-driven molecular diagnostics and biomarker-based assays for radiation, toxic chemicals, infectious pathogens, and other public health threats.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Murugan established and led the CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited ASU Biodesign Clinical Testing Laboratory (ABCTL), which performed over 1.4 million molecular diagnostic tests and sequenced more than 100,000 cases. He currently serves as Principal Investigator for one of the seven CDC-funded Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness (Flu VE) centers in the United States, with a focus on upper respiratory infections.

Dr. Murugan’s research integrates genomic, epigenetic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data to advance precision diagnostics across both point-of-care and laboratory settings, strengthening public health preparedness and improving patient care.

Education

B.Sc: Madurai Kamaraj University, India

M.Sc: Madurai Kamaraj University, India

Ph.D: Tata Inst. of Fundamental Research

Postdoc: The University of Texas at Austin

Fellowship: Harvard Medical School

MBA: Northeastern University

Google Scholar URL
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=oJrBC8gAAAAJ
Experts.asu.edu URL
https://asu.elsevierpure.com/en/persons/vel-murugan
ORCID Profile ID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7368-7742
Publications
  1. Biddle JE, House S, Kwon JH, Presti RM, Fritz SA, Curley T, McLaren SH, Stockwell MS, Schmitz J, Talbot HK, Grijalva CG, Saade EA, Albar Z, Murugan V, Cruz RA, Martin ET, Vaughn IA, Wernli KJ, Wickersham BM, Zimmerman RK, Geffel KM, Gaglani M, Smith ME, Walter EB, Bontrager NAB, Bristol L, Price AM, Chung JR, Flannery B, Rolfes MA, Mellis AM, O’Neil CA, Vu KT, Yerbic F, Teshome M, Astarita A, Hubert S, Boyle MG, Schneider AL, Richardson LM, Zhu Y, Scott TA, King JA, Anderson E, Schibley-Laird B, Goodridge R, Abrams O, Cornelison SA, Liu D, Vargas CY, Sano E, Wang L, Capasso-Gulve E, Faryar K, Donskey C, Canaday D, Gibson G, Aguilar K, Maras O, Hearn D, Lava JA, Choe J, Nguyen M, Phillips CH, Weissman A, Conti T, Taylor LH, McKillop A, Rose S, Murthy K, Williams OL. Estimating Influenza Transmission Parameters: Comparing Two Study Designs, 2023-2024. Epidemics. 2026:100888. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epidem.2026.100888.
  2. Yan, Z.; Li, Y.; Eshed, A.; Wu, K.; Ticktin, Z.M.; Murugan, V.; Lim, E.S.; Hong, F.; Green, A.A. Programmable fluorescent aptamer-based RNA switches for rapid identification of point mutations. Nat Chem 2025, doi:10.1038/s41557-025-01995-6.
  3. Chung, Y.; Murugan, V.; Beyene, K.M.; Chen, D.-G. Pseudo Partial Likelihood Method for Proportional Hazards Models when Time Origin Is Missing for Control Group with Applications to SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence Study. Journal of Data Science 2025, 1–14, doi:10.6339/25-JDS1199.
  4. Holland, S.C.; Abctl Diagnostic, T.; Sequencing, T.; Shoemaker, I.; Rosov, T.; Compton, C.C.; LaBaer, J.; Lim, E.S.; Murugan, V. Large-Scale Saliva-Based Clinical Surveillance Enables Real Time SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak Detection and Genomic Tracking (Arizona, 2020-2023). Diagnostics (Basel) 2025, 15, doi:10.3390/diagnostics15202663.
  5. Boughter, C.T.; Chatterjee, B.; Ohta, Y.; Gorga, K.; Blair, C.; Hill, E.M.; Fasana, Z.; Adebamowo, A.O.; Ammar, F.; Kosik, I.; et al. CountASAP: a lightweight, easy to use python package for processing ASAPseq data. BMC Bioinformatics 2025, doi:10.1186/s12859-025-06311-0.
  6. Arockiam S, Nguyen VT, Knappenberger M, Anderson C, Hansen M, Murugan V, Christen JB, Anderson KS. Rapid on-chip nucleic acid extraction for point-of-care salivary diagnostics. Anal Methods. 2025. Epub 20250508. doi: 10.1039/d4ay02201g. PubMed PMID: 40336490.
  7. Mirjalili S, Ikbal MA, Hou CW, Mohammadi MK, Choi Y, Kelbauskas L, VanBlargan LA, Hogue BG, Murugan V, Diamond MS, Wang C. Nanoparticle-supported, rapid, digital quantification of neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants. Biosens Bioelectron. 2025;285:117549. Epub 20250507. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2025.117549. PubMed PMID: 40383030; PMCID: PMC12145868.
  8. Frutos AM, Cleary S, Reeves EL, Ahmad HM, Price AM, Self WH, Zhu Y, Safdar B, Peltan ID, Gibbs KW, Exline MC, Lauring AS, Ball SW, DeSilva M, Tartof SY, Dascomb K, Irving SA, Klein NP, Dixon BE, Ong TC, Vaughn IA, House SL, Faryar KA, Nowalk MP, Gaglani M, Wernli KJ, Murugan V, Williams OL, Selvarangan R, Weinberg GA, Staat MA, Halasa NB, Sahni LC, Michaels MG, Englund JA, Kirby MK, Surie D, Dawood FS, Clopper BR, Moline HL, Link-Gelles R, Payne AB, Harker E, Wielgosz K, Weber ZA, Yang DH, Lewis NM, DeCuir J, Olson SM, Chung JR, Flannery B, Grohskopf LA, Reed C, Garg S, Ellington S. Interim Estimates of 2024-2025 Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness - Four Vaccine Effectiveness Networks, United States, October 2024-February 2025. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2025;74(6):83-90. Epub 20250227. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7406a2. PubMed PMID: 40014791.
  9. Hou, C.W.; Williams, S.; Trivino-Soto, G.; Boyle, V.; Rainford, D.; Vicino, S.; Magee, M.; Chung, Y.; LaBaer, J.; Murugan, V. The omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 drove broadly increased seroprevalence in a public university setting. PLOS Glob Public Health 2025, 5, e0003893, doi:10.1371/journal.pgph.0003893.
  10. Hou, C.-W.; Williams, S.; Boyle, V.; Roeder, A.; Bobbett, B.; Garcia, I.; Caruth, G.; Magee, M.; Chung, Y.; Lake, D.F.; et al. Tracking Immunity: An Increased Number of COVID-19 Boosters Increases the Longevity of Anti-RBD and Anti-RBD-Neutralizing Antibodies. Vaccines 2025, 13, 61.
  11. Chung, J.R.; Price, A.M.; Zimmerman, R.K.; Moehling Geffel, K.; House, S.L.; Curley, T.; Wernli, K.J.; Phillips, C.H.; Martin, E.T.; Vaughn, I.A.; et al. Influenza vaccine effectiveness against medically attended outpatient illness, United States, 2023-24 season. Clin Infect Dis 2025, doi:10.1093/cid/ciae658.
  12. Schuetter, J.; Minard-Smith, A.; Hill, B.; Beare, J.L.; Vornholt, A.; Burke, T.W.; Murugan, V.; Smith, A.K.; Chandrasekaran, T.; Shamma, H.J.; et al. Integrated epigenomic exposure signature discovery. Epigenomics 2024, 1-17, doi:10.1080/17501911.2024.2375187.
  13. Ridha, I.; Xu, C.; Zhang, Y.; Chung, Y.; Park, J.G.; LaBaer, J.; Murugan, V. Multiplexed Methylated DNA Immunoprecipitation Sequencing (Mx-MeDIP-Seq) to Study DNA Methylation Using Low Amounts of DNA. DNA 2024, 4, 397-416.
  14. Holland, S.C.; Smith, M.F.; Holland, L.A.; Maqsood, R.; Hu, J.C.; Murugan, V.; Driver, E.M.; Halden, R.U.; Lim, E.S. Wastewater and clinical surveillance of respiratory viral pathogens on a university campus. Sci Total Environ 2024, 948, 174981, doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174981.
  15. Holland, S.C.; Smith, M.F.; Holland, L.A.; Maqsood, R.; Hu, J.C.; Murugan, V.; Driver, E.M.; Halden, R.U.; Lim, E.S. Human adenovirus outbreak at a university campus monitored by wastewater and clinical surveillance. medRxiv 2024, doi:10.1101/2024.03.27.24304990.
  16. Chung, J.R.; Shirk, P.; Gaglani, M.; Mutnal, M.B.; Nowalk, M.P.; Moehling Geffel, K.; House, S.L.; Curley, T.; Wernli, K.J.; Kiniry, E.L.; et al. Late-Season Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Against Medically Attended Outpatient Illness, United States, December 2022-April 2023. Influenza Other Respir Viruses 2024, 18, e13342, doi:10.1111/irv.13342.
  17. Chung, J.R.; Price, A.M.; Zimmerman, R.K.; Geffel, K.M.; House, S.L.; Curley, T.; Wernli, K.J.; Phillips, C.H.; Martin, E.T.; Vaughn, I.A.; et al. Influenza vaccine effectiveness against medically attended outpatient illness, United States, 2023-24 season. medRxiv 2024, doi:10.1101/2024.10.29.24316377.
  18. Boughter, C.T.; Chatterjee, B.; Ohta, Y.; Gorga, K.; Blair, C.; Hill, E.M.; Fasana, Z.; Adebamowo, A.; Ammar, F.; Kosik, I.; et al. CountASAP: A Lightweight, Easy to Use Python Package for Processing ASAPseq Data. bioRxiv 2024, doi:10.1101/2024.05.20.595042.
  19. Maqsood R, Smith MF, Holland LA, Sullins RA, Holland SC, Tan M, Hernandez Barrera GM, Thomas AW, Islas M, Kramer JL, Nordstrom L, Mulrow M, White M, Murugan V*, Lim ES*. Influenza Virus Genomic Surveillance, Arizona, USA, 2023–2024. Viruses. 2024;16(5):692. PubMed PMID: doi:10.3390/v16050692.*Corresponding authors
  20. Koehler MA, Song L, Grill FJ, Shubitz LF, Powell DA, Galgiani JN, Orbach MJ, Robb EJ, Chung Y, Williams SA, Murugan V, Park J-g, LaBaer J, Lake DF, Magee DM. Discovery of a Unique Set of Dog-Seroreactive Coccidioides Proteins Using Nucleic Acid Programmable Protein Array. Journal of Fungi. 2024;10(5):307. PubMed PMID: doi:10.3390/jof10050307.
  21. Frutos AM, Price AM, Harker E, Reeves EL, Ahmad HM, Murugan V, et al. Interim Estimates of 2023-24 Seasonal Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness - United States. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2024;73(8):168-74.
  22. Song L, Rauf F, Hou CW, Qiu J, Murugan V, Chung Y, Lai H, Adam D, Magee DM, Trivino Soto G, Peterson M, Anderson KS, Rice SG, Readhead B, Park JG, LaBaer J. Quantitative assessment of multiple pathogen exposure and immune dynamics at scale. Microbiol Spectr. 2023:e0239923. Epub 20231208. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.02399-23. PubMed PMID: 38063388.
  23. Holland, L.A., Holland, S.C., Smith, M.F., Leonard, V.R., Murugan, V., Nordstrom, L., Mulrow, M., Salgado, R., White, M., and Lim, E.S. (2023). Genomic Sequencing Surveillance to Identify Respiratory Syncytial Virus Mutations, Arizona, USA. Emerg Infect Dis 29. 10.3201/eid2911.230836.
  24. Sasser, J., Li, C.B., Doane, L.D., Krasnow, A., Murugan, V., Magee, D.M., and LaBaer, J. (2023). Associations between COVID-19 sleep patterns, depressive symptoms, loneliness, and academic engagement: a latent profile analysis. J Am Coll Health, 1-5. 10.1080/07448481.2023.2239361.
  25. Lee, R.E., Todd, M., Oh, H., Han, S., Santana, M., Aguilar-Troncoso, J., Bruening, M., Kramer, J.L., Leon, T., Murugan, V., et al. (2023). Acceptability and Feasibility of Saliva-delivered PCR Coronavirus 2019 Tests for Young Children. Pediatrics 152. 10.1542/peds.2022-060352D.
  26. Hou, C.W., Williams, S., Taylor, K., Boyle, V., Bobbett, B., Kouvetakis, J., Nguyen, K., McDonald, A., Harris, V., Nussle, B., et al. (2023). Serological survey to estimate SARS-CoV-2 infection and antibody seroprevalence at a large public university: A cross-sectional study. BMJ Open 13, e072627. 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-072627.
  27. Goldman, J.L., Kalu, I.C., Schuster, J.E., Erickson, T., Mast, D.K., Zimmerman, K., Benjamin, D.K., Kalb, L.G., Gurnett, C., Newland, J.G., et al. (2023). Building School-Academic Partnerships to Implement COVID-19 Testing in Underserved Populations. Pediatrics 152. 10.1542/peds.2022-060352C.
  28. Troup, C., Mukhopadhyay, D., Chakrabarty, T., Madan, A., Dwarakanath, S., Murugan, V., and Satyanarayana, S. (2023). Accurate and Rapid Antigen Assay for COVID-19 Diagnostics Using Saliva. Archives of Clinical and Biomedical Research 07, 133-146. 10.26502/acbr.50170326.
  29. Smith, M.F., Holland, S.C., Lee, M.B., Hu, J.C., Pham, N.C., Sullins, R.A., Holland, L.A., Mu, T., Thomas, A.W., Fitch, R., Driver EM, Halden RU, Villegas-Gold M, Sanders S, Krauss JL, Nordstrom L, Mulrow M, White M, Murugan V, Lim ES (2023). Baseline Sequencing Surveillance of Public Clinical Testing, Hospitals, and Community Wastewater Reveals Rapid Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant of Concern in Arizona, USA. mBio, e0310122. 10.1128/mbio.03101-22.
  30. Qiu, J., Engelbrektson, A., Song, L., Park, J., Murugan, V., Williams, S., Chung, Y., Pompa-Mera, E.N., Sandoval-Ramirez, J.L., Mata-Marin, J.A., et al. (2023). Comparative Analysis of Antimicrobial Antibodies between Mild and Severe COVID-19. Microbiol Spectr, e0469022. 10.1128/spectrum.04690-22.
  31. Lal D, Song L, Brar T, Cope EK, Keim P, Williams S, Chung Y, Murugan V, LaBaer J, Magee DM. (2022) Antibody responses to the host microbiome in chronic rhinosinusitis. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol. 2022. Epub 20221211. doi: 10.1002/alr.23107. PubMed PMID: 36504343.
  32. Shome, M., Gao, W., Engelbrektson, A., Song, L., Williams, S., Murugan, V., Park, J.G., Chung, Y., LaBaer, J., and Qiu, J. (2022a). Comparative microbiomics analysis of anti-microbial antibody response between lung cancer patients and control subjects with benign pulmonary nodules. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 10.1158/1055-9965.Epi-22-0384.
  33. Shome, M., Song, L., Williams, S., Chung, Y., Murugan, V., Park, J.G., Faubion, W., Pasha, S.F., Leighton, J.A., LaBaer, J., and Qiu, J. (2022b). Serological profiling of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis patients reveals anti-microbial antibody signatures. World J Gastroenterol 28, 4089-4101. 10.3748/wjg.v28.i30.4089.
  34. Holland, S.C., Bains, A., Holland, L.A., Smith, M.F., Sullins, R.A., Mellor, N.J., Thomas, A.W., Johnson, N., Murugan, V., and Lim, E.S. (2022). SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant N Gene Mutations Reduce Sensitivity to the TaqPath COVID-19 Multiplex Molecular Diagnostic Assay. Viruses 14. 10.3390/v14061316.
  35. Karger AB, Brien JD, Christen JM, Dhakal S, Kemp TJ, Klein SL, Pinto LA, Premkumar L, Roback JD, Binder RA, Boehme KW, Boppana S, Cordon-Cardo C, Crawford JM, Daiss JL, Dupuis AP, 2nd, Espino AM, Firpo-Betancourt A, Forconi C, Forrest JC, Girardin RC, Granger DA, Granger SW, Haddad NS, Heaney CD, Hunt DT, Kennedy JL, King CL, Krammer F, Kruczynski K, LaBaer J, Lee FE, Lee WT, Liu SL, Lozanski G, Lucas T, Mendu DR, Moormann AM, Murugan V, Okoye NC, Pantoja P, Payne AF, Park J, Pinninti S, Pinto AK, Pisanic N, Qiu J, Sariol CA, Simon V, Song L, Steffen TL, Stone ET, Styer LM, Suthar MS, Thomas SN, Thyagarajan B, Wajnberg A, Yates JL, Sobhani K. The Serological Sciences Network (SeroNet) for COVID-19: Depth and Breadth of Serology Assays and Plans for Assay Harmonization. mSphere. 2022;7(4):e0019322. Epub 20220615. doi: 10.1128/msphere.00193-22. PubMed PMID: 35703544; PMCID: PMC9429934.
  36. Hoffmeyer, M.R., Gillis, K., Park, J.G., Murugan, V., and LaBaer, J. (2021). Making the Case for Absorbed Radiation Response Biodosimetry - Utility of a High-Throughput Biodosimetry System. Radiat Res 196, 535-546.
  37. Pannala, R., Gupta, S., Tinkasimile, A.K., Vorachitti, M., Faigel, D.O., Grys, T.E., LaBaer, J., and Murugan, V. (2020). 95 QUANTITATIVE QPCR-BASED BIOBURDEN TEST FOR THE DETECTION OF CARBAPENEM-RESISTANT ENTEROBACTERIACEAE (CRE): NOVEL TEST FOR SURVEILLANCE AND RISK-STRATIFICATION. Gastrointestinal Endoscopy 91, AB12-AB13
  38. Skidmore, P.T., Kaelin, E.A., Holland, L.A., Maqsood, R., Wu, L.I., Mellor, N.J., Blain, J.M., Harris, V., LaBaer, J., Murugan, V., and Lim, ES. (2021). Genomic Sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 E484K Variant B.1.243.1, Arizona, USA. Emerg Infect Dis 27, 2718-2720.
  39. Sá JM, Kaslow SR, Krause MA, Melendez-Muniz VA, Salzman RE, Kite WA, Zhang M, Moraes Barros RR, Mu J, Han PK, Mershon JP, Figan CE, Caleon RL, Rahman RS, Gibson TJ, Amaratunga C, Nishiguchi EP, Breglio KF, Engels TM, Velmurugan S, Ricklefs S, Straimer J, Gnädig NF, Deng B, Liu A, Diouf A, Miura K, Tullo GS, Eastman RT, Chakravarty S, James ER, Udenze K, Li S, Sturdevant DE, Gwadz RW, Porcella SF, Long CA, Fidock DA, Thomas ML, Fay MP, Sim BKL, Hoffman SL, Adams JH, Fairhurst RM, Su XZ, Wellems TE. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (2018) 115(49); 12513-12518.
  40. Naetar, N*., Velmurugan, S*., Litovchick, L., Goguen, KL., Sablina, A, Bowman-Colin, B., Sicinski, P., Hahn, WC., DeCaprio, J., and Livingston, DL PP2A-Mediated Regulation of Ras Signaling in G2 Is Essential for Stable Quiescence and Normal G1 Length. Mol. Cell (2014) 54; 1-14. *Authors contributed equally to this work.
  41. Seder, R. A., L. J. Chang, M. E. Enama, K. L. Zephir, U. N. Sarwar, I. J. Gordon, L. A. Holman, E. R. James, P. F. Billingsley, A. Gunasekera, A. Richman, S. Chakravarty, A. Manoj, S. Velmurugan, M. Li, A. J. Ruben, T. Li, A. G. Eappen, R. E. Stafford, S. H. Plummer, C. S. Hendel, L. Novik, P. J. Costner, F. H. Mendoza, J. G. Saunders, M. C. Nason, J. H. Richardson, J. Murphy, S. A. Davidson, T. L. Richie, M. Sedegah, A. Sutamihardja, G. A. Fahle, K. E. Lyke, M. B. Laurens, M. Roederer, K. Tewari, J. E. Epstein, B. K. Sim, J. E. Ledgerwood, B. S. Graham, S. L. Hoffman, and V. R. C. Study Team the. "Protection against Malaria by Intravenous Immunization with a Nonreplicating Sporozoite Vaccine." Science, (2013) 341(6152):1359-65.
  42. March, S., S. Ng, S. Velmurugan, A. Galstian, J. Shan, D. J. Logan, A. E. Carpenter, D. Thomas, B. K. Sim, M. M. Mota, S. L. Hoffman, and S. N. Bhatia. "A Microscale Human Liver Platform That Supports the Hepatic Stages of Plasmodium Falciparum and Vivax." Cell Host Microbe 14, no. 1 (2013): 104-15.
  43. Roestenberg, M., E. M. Bijker, B. K. Sim, P. F. Billingsley, E. R. James, G. J. Bastiaens, A. C. Teirlinck, A. Scholzen, K. Teelen, T. Arens, A. J. van der Ven, A. Gunasekera, S. Chakravarty, S. Velmurugan, C. C. Hermsen, R. W. Sauerwein, and S. L. Hoffman. "Controlled Human Malaria Infections by Intradermal Injection of Cryopreserved Plasmodium Falciparum Sporozoites." Am J Trop Med Hyg 88, no. 1 (2013): 5-13.
  44. Fine, D.A., Rosen, R., Padi, M., Korkhin. A., James, R.L., Adelmant, G., Yoon, R., Guo, L., Berrios, C., Zhang, Y., Calderwood, M.A., Velmurugan, S., Cheng, J., Marto, J.A., Hill, D.E., Cusick, M.E., Vidal, M., Florens, L., Washburn, M.P., Litovchick, L., and DeCaprio. J.A. (2012) Identification of FAM111A as an SV40 host range restriction factor. PLoS Pathog 8(10): e1002949. doi:10.1371/ journal.ppat.1002949
  45. Hoffman, S.A., Aravind, L and Velmurugan, S. (2012). Female Anopheles gambiae antennae: increased transcript accumulation of the mosquito-specific odorant-binding-protein OBP2. Parasites and Vectors 5:27 (doi:10.1186/1756-3305-5-27)
  46. Epstein, J.E., Tewari, K., Lyke, K.E., Sim, B.K.L., Billingsley, P.F., Laurens, M.B., Gunasekera, A., Chakravarty, S., James, E.R., Sedegah, M., Richman, A., Velmurugan, S., Reyes, S., Li, M., Tucker, K., Ahumada, A., Ruben, A.J., Li, T., Stafford, R., Eappen, A.G., Tamminga, C., Bennett, J.W., Ockenhouse, C.F., Murphy, J.R., Komisar, J., Thomas, N., Loyevsky, M., Birkett, A., Plowe, C.V., Loucq, C., Edelman, R., Richie, T.L., Seder, R.A., Hoffman, S.L. (2011) Live Attenuated Malaria Vaccine Designed to Protect through Hepatic CD8+ T Cell Immunity. Science (2011) 334(6055):475-80(DOI: 10.1126/science.1211548)
  47. Chattopadhyay,R., Velmurugan, S., Chakiath, C., Andrews Donkor, L., Milhous, W., Barnwell, J.W., Collins, W.E., and Hoffman, S.L (2010) Establishment of an In Vitro Assay for Assessing the Effects of Drugs on the Liver Stages of Plasmodium vivax malaria. PloSONE 5: e14275 
  48. Tewari, K., Flynn, B.J., Boscardin, S.B, Kastenmueller, K., Salazar, A.M., Anderson, C.A., Velmurugan, S., Ahumada, A., Keler, T., Hoffman, S.L., Nussenzweig, M.C., Steinman, R.M., and Seder, R.A. (2010) Poly(I:C) is an effective adjuvant for antibody and multi-functional CD4+ T cell responses to Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein (CSP) and αDEC-CSP in non-human primates. Vaccine 45: 7256-7266
  49. Litovchick, L., Sadasivam, S., Florens, L., Zhu, X., Swanson, S.K., Velmurugan, S., Washburn, M.K., Liu, X.S. and DeCaprio J.A. (2007) Evolutionally conserved multi-subunit RBL2/p130 and E2F4 protein complex represses human cell cycle-dependent genes in quiescence. Mol. Cell. 26: 539-551.
  50. Silver, D.P., Dimitrov, S., Feunteun, J., Gelman, R., Mar, J., Drapkin, R., Lu, D., Shestakova, E., Velmurugan, S., DeNunzio, N., Dragomir, S., Liu, X., Rottenberg , S., Jonkers, J., Ganesan, S and Livingston, D.M. (2007) Further Evidence for BRCA1 Communication with the Inactive X Chromosome. Cell 128: 991-1002
  51. Dobson, M.J., Pickett, A.J., Velmurugan, S., Pinder, J.B., Barrett, L.A., Jayaram, M and Chew, J.S. (2005) The 2-micron plasmid causes cell death in Saccharomyces cerevisiae with a mutation in Ulp1 protease. Mol. Cell. Biol. 25: 4299-4310.
  52. Mehta, S., Yang, X., Jayaram, M., and Velmurugan. S. (2005) A novel role for the mitotic spindle during DNA segregation in yeast: promoting 2-micron plasmid-cohesin association. Mol. Cell. Biol. 25: 4283-4298.
  53. Yang, X., Mehta, S., Uzri, D., Jayaram, M., and Velmurugan, S. (2004) Mutations in a partitioning protein and altered chromatin structure at the partitioning locus prevent cohesin recruitment by the yeast plasmid and cause its missegregation. Mol. Cell. Biol. 24: 5290-5303.
  54. Mehta, S., Yang, X., Chan, C. S. M., Dobson, M. M., Jayaram, M., and Velmurugan. S. (2002). Coupling between 2-micron plasmid partitioning and chromosome segregation in yeast: the plasmid stability system purloins the yeast cohesin complex? J. Cell Biol. 158, 625-637.
  55. Kang J. S., Cheeseman, I. M., Kallstrom, G., Velmurugan, S., Barnes, G., and Chan, C. S. (2001). Functional cooperation of Dam1, Ipl1, and the inner centromere protein (INCENP)-related protein Sli15 during chromosome segregation. J. Cell Biol. 155, 763-774.
  56. Lisby, M., Olesen, J. R., Skouboe, C., Krogh, B. O., Straub, T., Boege, F., Velmurugan, S., Martensen, P. M., Andersen, A. H., Jayaram, M., and Knudsen, B. R. (2001). Residues within the N-terminal domain of human topoisomerase I play a direct role in relaxation. J. Biol. Chem. 276, 20220-20227.
  57. Velmurugan, S., Yang, X. M., Chan, C. S., Dobson, M., and Jayaram, M. (2000). Partitioning of the 2-micron circle plasmid of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Functional coordination with chromosome segregation and plasmid-encoded rep protein distribution. J. Cell Biol. 149, 553-566.
  58. Velmurugan, S., Ahn, Y. T., Yang, X. M., Wu, X. L., and Jayaram, M. (1998). The 2-micron plasmid stability system: analyses of the interactions among plasmid- and host-encoded components. Mol. Cell Biol. 18, 7466-7477.
  59. Mehta, S., Velmurugan, S., and Lobo, Z. (1998). Repression of enzymes of the pentose phosphate pathway by glucose in fission yeast. FEBS Lett. 440, 430-433.
  60. Mehta, S. V., Patil, V. B., Velmurugan, S., Lobo, Z., and Maitra, P. K. (1998). Std1, a gene involved in glucose transport in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. J. Bacteriol. 180, 674-679.
  61. Velmurugan, S., Lobo, Z., and Maitra, P. K. (1997). Suppression of pdc2 regulating pyruvate decarboxylase synthesis in yeast. Genetics 145, 587-594.
  62. Ahn, Y. T., Wu, X. L., Biswal, S., Velmurugan, S., Volkert, F. C., and Jayaram, M. (1997). The 2 µm-plasmid-encoded Rep1 and Rep2 proteins interact with each other and colocalize to the Saccharomyces cerevisiae nucleus. J. Bacteriol. 179, 7497-7506.
  63. Gunasekaran, P., Mukundan, G., Kannan, T. R., Velmurugan, S., Ait-Abdelkader, N., and Baratti, J. (1995). The SacB and SacC genes encoding levansucrase and sucrase form a gene cluster in Zymomonas mobilis. Biotechnol. letters 17, 635-642

Review Articles

  1. Jayaram, M., Mehta, S., Uzri, D., Voziyanov, Y., and Velmurugan, S. (2004). Site-specific Recombination and Partitioning Systems in the Stable High Copy Propagation of the 2 Micron Yeast Plasmid. In Prog. Nucleic Acid Res. Mol. Biol. 77: 127-172
  2. Jayaram, M., Mehta, S., Uzri, D., and S. Velmurugan. (2004) Segregation of the Yeast Plasmid: Similarities and Contrasts with Bacterial Plasmid Partitioning. Plasmid. 51: 162-178.
  3. Velmurugan, S., Mehta, S., and Jayaram, M. (2003). Selfishness in moderation: evolutionary success of the yeast plasmid. Curr. Topics Dev. Biol. 56, 1-24.
  4. Jayaram, M., Mehta, S., Uzri, D., and S. Velmurugan. (2003) Stable propagation of 'selfish' genetic elements. J. Biosci. 5, 623-636.
  5. Mehta, S., Jayaram, M and Velmurugan, S. (2003). Yeast plasmids: models for the evolutionary persistence of selfish extrachromosomal elements. In Recent Research Developments in Molecular and Cellular Biology 4, 249-271.

Book Chapters

  1. Jayaram, M., Yang, X., Mehta, S., Voziyanov, Y., and Velmurugan, S. (2004). The 2-micron plasmid of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In Plasmid Biology. Eds Funnell, B. E., and Philips, G. J., ASM Press, Washington DC.
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