Dr. Pramod K. Srivastava, an accomplished leader in basic and translational research, is the director of the Carole and Ray Neag Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Srivastava is a professor and interim chairman of the Department of Immunology, director of the Center for Immunotherapy of Cancer and Infectious Diseases, and part of the leadership team of the Connecticut Institute for Clinical and Translational Science (CICATS). He holds the Eversource Energy Chair in Experimental Oncology.

He has earned international acclaim for his groundbreaking work in the immunological function of heat shock proteins and in cancer immunology, is widely published in scholarly journals and serves on editorial boards for several major journals in immunology.

View Dr. Srivastava's list of patents.

Education

Degree	Institution	Major
BS	University of Allahabad	Biology
MS	University of Allahabad	Botany (Palentology)
Other	Osaka University	Microbial genetics
PhD	Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology	Biochemistry
MD	University of Connecticut School of Medicine	Medicine

Post-Graduate Training

Training	Institution	Specialty
Postdoctoral	Yale University	Molecular and Developmental Biology
Postdoctoral	Sloan-Kettering Institute	Immunology

Awards

Name of Award/Honor	Awarding Organization
Invited to serve as Reviewing Editor	eLife Journal Development
Senior Editor, Cancer Immunology Research	American Association for Cancer Research
Permanent Member, Translational Immuno-Oncology	Study Section, NIH
AAAS Fellow (For distinguished contributions to the fields of cancer and neuroimmunology, particularly in delineating the heat shock proteins and temperature receptors in innate immunity, and neuropeptides for personalized cancer immunotherapy)	AAAS
Member, Scientific Advisory Council	CRI
UICC Roll of Honor
Mildred Scheel Lecturer at the Intl. Conf. on "Hyperthermia in Oncology", Munich
Irma T. Hirshl Award
Investigator Award of CRI
First Independent Research Support and Transition Award	NIH
John Hans and Edna Alice Old Postdoctoral Fellowship	Cancer Research Institute
Gold Medal	University of Allahbad
Award in Plant Physiology	Indian Council of Agricultural Research

Name & Description	Category	Role	Type	Scope	Start Year	End Year
AACR NextGen Grants for Transformative Cancer Research Scientific Review Committee	Research Committee	Member	External	National	2018	2020
Cancer Immunology Research (AACR)	Research Committee	Senior Editor	External	National	2013	2020
Research Advisory Council - UConn	Education Committee	Member	UConn-Storrs	State	2013	2020
The Open Immunology Journal	Professional/Scientific Journal	Editorial Board	External	National	2012	2020
Cell Stress Society	Advisory Committee	Advisory Board	External	National	2006	2020
Human Vaccines	Editorial Board	Associate Editor	External	National	2005	2020
Tissue Antigens	Editorial Board	Editorial Board	External	National	2001	2020
Scientific Advisory Council, CRI	Advisory Committee	Member	External	National	1997	2020
Fellowship Committee of the CRI	Research Committee	Member	External	National	1996	2020
Immunology-Oncology study section, NIH	Study Section	Member	External	National	1994	2021
Ad hoc member of several NIH and DoD study sections, several times a year.	Study Section	Ad Hoc Member	External	National	1994	2021
American Association of Immunologists	Professional/Scientific Organization	Member	External	National
American Association of Cancer Research	Professional/Scientific Organization	Member	External	National
American Association for Advancement of Science	Professional/Scientific Organization	Member	External	National
International Society for Vaccination	Professional/Scientific Organization	Charter Member	External	International
Cell Stress Society	Professional/Scientific Organization	Life Member	External	National
Cancer Research Institute	Research Committee	Member, Steering Committee	External	National		2020
CICATS Advisory Board	Advisory Committee	Member	UConn Health	University		2020
Journal of Immunology	Professional/Scientific Journal	Reviewer	External	National		2020
NIAID and NIA (NIH)	Advisory Committee	Reviewer	External	National		2020
Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy	Professional/Scientific Journal	Reviewer	External	National		2020
PNAS	Professional/Scientific Journal	Reviewer	External	National		2020
Nature Immunology	Professional/Scientific Journal	Reviewer	External	National		2020
Search Committee for Gyn/Onc faculty	Education Committee	Member	UConn Health	University

Our laboratory’s research interests lie in four areas: antigen presentation by MHC I and MHC II molecules, immune response to cancer, viral immunity, and autoimmunity. Our pursuit of these areas is linked to a key set of observations made by our laboratory over the past 20 years. These observations are: (1) Heat shock proteins (HSP) isolated from cells are always associated with a broad array of peptides. These peptides are derived from the proteins present in the cell and together, the HSP-associated peptide profile represents the total protein/peptide repertoire of a cell including the antigenic repertoire. (2) The HSP-peptide complexes, whether isolated from cells, or reconstituted in vitro, are potent immunogens against the peptides and cells presenting those peptides. The immune response elicited by such complexes is heavily skewed towards a cellular T cell response. (3) HSPs have remarkable immunomodulatory properties which derive from their interaction with macrophage and dendritic cells through a receptor, identified by us as CD91. Our laboratory has used these observations to explore new key aspects of antigen presentation and to develop innovative approaches for therapy of cancer, infections and autoimmune disorders. It is our view that the HSP-peptide interaction is an evolutionary precursor to the MHC-peptide interaction and lies at the center of a wide array of immunological phenomena.

Accepting Lab Rotation Students: Summer 2022, Fall 2022, and Spring 2023

Lab Rotation Projects
The following constitutes most of what we do. Students are encouraged to create rotation projects out of any of these areas.

(1) We study antigen presentation and cross-priming. We have uncovered a key role of heat shock proteins, the most highly conserved and abundant proteins in living systems, in both of these phenomena, which are central to immunology.

(2) Our studies with heat shock proteins have lead to novel approaches to immunotherapy of cancers and infectious diseases, which are in Phase 3 clinical trials in over 200 hospitals worldwide.

(3) We have also shown heat shock proteins to elicit regulatory CD4+ T cells; the mechanism of this phenomenon as well as its application to therapy of autoimmune diseases are of continuing interest to us.

(4) This laboratory has a new-found interest in neuro-immunology. We do not have much of a track record in this area, as we just published our first paper in it. Our interest is driven by the many observations that demonstrate a clear link between the nervous and the immune systems. We aim to explore those links through new phenomena and their mechanisms at the molecular, cellular and organismal levels.

Journal Articles

Book Chapters

Conference Papers

Editorials

Other

Reviews

Title or Abstract	Type	Sponsor/Event	Date/Year	Location
“What makes a good tumor antigen for purposes of immunotherapy?”	Lecture	OSUCCC-PIIO Distinguished Professor IO Seminar	2022	April 29, Ohio State Cancer Center, Columbus, OH
Neoepitopes of Cancers: The Awesome Powers of Weakness and Scarcity	Lecture	JAX Cancer Short Course	2022	Aug.19,31st Short Crse on Exper. Models of Human Cancer, Jackson Lab.
Cancer neoepitopes: Awesome powers of weak interactions	Lecture	Arizona Department of Health Services, Biomedical Research Center	2022	November 3, University of AZ, College of Medicine - Phoenix, virtual
How to Define a "Good" Cancer neoepitope?	Plenary Lecture	University of Pittsburgh Immunology Seminar Series	2019	University of Pittsburgh
"Challenges in identification of cancer neoantigens: lessons from mouse models and a Phase 1 trial in patients with advanced ovarian cancers"	Lecture	World Vaccine Congress & Expo	2019	Washington, DC
"How to Identify a Good Tumor Rejection Mediating Neoepitope"	Lecture	7th Annual Immuno-Oncology Summit	2019	Boston, MA
"How to define a good cancer neoepitope?"	Plenary Lecture	48th Annual Autumn Immunology Conference (AIC)	2019	Chicago, IL
Antigen Processing and Presentation	Plenary Lecture	EMBO 7th Workshop	2012	The Netherlands
Toward New Frontiers	Lecture	Day of Immunology 2012:	2012	Prague, Czech Republic
Strategies for Clinical Oncology Drug Development	Plenary Lecture	Molecular Med TRI-CON conference	2011	San Francisco, California
Cancer Biology	Plenary Lecture	International Symposium	2011	New Delhi, India
Heat Shock Proteins in Biology and Medicine	Plenary Lecture		2010	Woodshole, Massachusetts
Functional Genomics	Plenary Lecture		2010	Varanasi, India
Antigen Cross-Presentation Conference	Talk	Gordon Research Conference	2009	Il Ciocca, Italy
Heat Shock Proteins in Biology and Medicine	Plenary Lecture		2008	Woodshole, Massachusetts
The Biology of Extracellular Molecular Chaperones	Talk		2007	London, England
Immunotherapy	Talk		2006	Havana, Cuba
Regulators of Adaptive Immunity	Talk		2006	Erlangen, Germany
Melanoma and Other Cutaneous	Talk		2006	New York
Cancer Vaccines	Talk		2004	New York City, New York
Basis & Clinical Immunogenomics	Talk		2004	Budapest, Hungary
Vaccines & Immunization	Talk		2004	Japan
Heat Shock Proteins & Modulation of Cellular Function	Talk	Biochemical Society	2004	London, England
Strategies for Immune Therapy	Talk		2004	Germany
Autoimmune Diabetes	Talk	13th New England Regional Workshop	2003	Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Perspectives in Melanoma Management	Talk	1st Annual European Conference	2003	Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Cancer and HIV Vaccines: Shared Lessons	Talk		2003	Manhattan, New York
Stress Responses in Biology and Medicine	Talk		2003	Quebec City, Canada
Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy	Talk	International Summer School	2003	Ionian Village Peloponese, Greece
Hyperthermic Oncology	Talk		2003	Munich, Germany
Cancer Gene Therapy	Talk		2003	Singapore
Cancer Vaccines and Immunotherapy	Talk	Walker’s Cay Colloquium	2003	Abaco, Bahamas
Basic Aspects of Tumor Immunology	Talk	Keystone Symposium	2003
Research Opportunities in Cancer Immunology	Talk	American Association of Immunologists and NCI	2003	Bethesda, Maryland
Immunology	Talk	Winter School	2002	Kovalam, Kerala, India
Autoimmune Diabetes Mellitus	Talk	New England Regional Workshop	2002	Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Cancer Prevention	Talk	AACR	2002	New York City
The Biology of Heat Shock Proteins and Molecular Chaperones	Talk	EMBO	2002	Warsaw, Poland
Vaccine Research	Talk		2002	Baltimore, Maryland
Perspectives in Melanoma V: Scientific and Clinical Foundation for Future Progress	Talk	The University of Pittsburgh	2001	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Hinterzartener Kreis	Talk		2001	Cadenabbia/Como, Italy
Basic Aspects of Vaccines	Talk	7th National Symposium	2001	Baltimore, Maryland
Immunology	Talk	Winter School	2001	Kovalam, Kerala, India
Interfaces Between Innate and Adaptive Immunity	Talk	Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology	2001	Keystone, Colorado
Molecular Biology of Stress Responses	Talk		2001	Mendoza, Argentina
New Perspectives in Tunicate Biology	Talk	IV “Anton Dohrn” Workshop	2001	Ischia, Italy
New Paradigms of Molecular Chaperones in the Postgenome Era	Talk	8th CGGH Symposium	2001	Sapporo Japan
Molecular Interactions in Infection and Immunity	Talk	International Congress of Immunology	2001	Stockholm, Sweden
Heat Shock Proteins: The Fountainhead of Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses	Talk	The British Society for Immunology Congress	2000	London, England
Heat Shock Proteins in Biology and Medicine	Talk	Dana Farber Cancer Institute	2000	Woods Hole, Massachusetts
Heat Shock Proteins in Immune Response	Talk		2000	Farmington, Connecticut
Cancer Vaccines	Talk	Cancer Research Institute	2000	New York City, New York
Heat Shock Proteins: Immune, Stress Response and Apoptosis	Talk		2000	Gdansk, Poland
Molecular Determinants of T Cell Immunity	Talk	4th EFIS Tatra Immunology Conference	2000	Tatra Mountains, Slovakia
Cancer Immunosurveillance	Talk	Cancer Research Institute	1999	New York, New York
Immunological Mechanisms of Tumor Defense	Talk	Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat Mainz Klinikum	1999	Mainz, Germany
Unconventional Pathogen Countermeasures	Talk	DARPA Conference	1999	Monterey, California
New Strategies for Stimulating and Augmenting Host Resistance to Malignant Cells	Talk	Robert Steel Foundation International Symposium	1998	New York, New York
Cancer Vaccine Week	Talk	Cancer Research Institute Symposium	1998	New York City, New York
Cellular Targets of Viral Carcinogenesis	Talk	AACR	1998	Dana Point, California
Mechanisms of Immune Evasion by Tumors	Talk	National Cancer Institute	1998	Washington, DC
Novel Methods for Enhancement of Immune Responses to Peptides/Proteins	Talk	Pfizer Mini-Symposium	1998	Groton, Connecticut
Graft-versus-Host & Graft-versus-Leukemia Reactions	Talk		1998	Munich, Germany
Immunological Attacks on Cancer	Talk	Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory	1997	New York
Molecular Biology of Stress Response	Talk	Benares Hindu University	1997	Varanasi, India
Molecular Virology and Vaccinology	Talk	Drug Information Association	1997	Newport Beach, California
Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy	Talk	UCLA symposium	1997	Copper Mountain, Colorado
Tumor Immunology	Talk	Symposium in Immunology VI	1996	Prague, Czechoslovakia
Cancer Vaccines	Talk	American Association of Advancement of Sciences	1996	Baltimore, Maryland
Antigen Presentation	Talk		1995	Oxnard, California
Cancer Immunity	Talk	Nobel Forum Conference	1995	Stockholm, Sweden
Engineered Vaccines Against Cancer and AIDS	Talk		1995	San Francisco, California
Deutsches Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG workshop on Immunological aspects of heat shock proteins and heat shock response	Talk		1994
Cancer Vaccines	Talk	Cancer Research Institute	1994	New York
Therapeutic Opportunities for Heat Shock Proteins	Talk	IBC Conference	1994	Cambridge, Massachusetts
New Approaches to Cancer Therapy	Talk	Johns Hopkins Oncology Center	1994	Baltimore, Maryland
New Approaches to Cancer Immunotherapy	Talk	AACR	1994	San Francisco, California
Biology of Heat Shock Proteins and Molecular Chaperones	Talk	Cold Spring Harbor Meeting	1994
Hyperthermia in Clinical Oncology	Talk	Ludwig Maximilians, University of Munich	1993	Germany
Tumor Immunotherapy	Talk	FASEB Conference	1993	Vermont
Heat Shock in Multiple Sclerosis and Other Disorders	Talk		1993	Galicia, Spain
Cellular Immunity to Cancer	Talk		1993	Taos, New Mexico
Tumor Antigens	Talk	American Association of Immunologists	1992	Anaheim, California
Allergology and Immunology	Plenary Lecture	Austrian Society	1991
Nature of Tumor Antigens	Talk	American Association of Immunologists	1990	New Orleans, Louisiana
'Molecular Basis of Tumor Immunology	Talk		1990	Virginia
T Cell Immunity to Cancers	Talk	UCLA Symposium	1990
Influence of MHC Expression on Tumor Growth	Talk	NIH workshop	1988	Annapolis, Maryland
Human Tumor Antigens and Specific Tumor Therapy	Talk	UCLA Symposium	1988
Recent Advances in Human Melanoma Research	Talk	Cancer Research Institute	1987	New York