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Monash Centre for Inflammatory Diseases

Dr Kumar Visvanathan

Dr Kumar Visvanathan

Dr Visvanathan heads up the Innate Immunity Laboratory and is also an infectious diseases physician at Monash Medical Centre. His interest in Sepsis stems from the time he spent as a Post-doctoral fellow at Rockefeller University in New York, investigating the role of super-antigens in septic and toxic shock.

Since his return to Australia, his research has expanded to incorporate the involvement of the innate immune system in sepsis, hepatitis and other inflammatory diseases. Dr Visvanathan’s career highlights include receiving the Frank Fenner award for advanced research in infectious diseases from the Australasian Society of Infectious Diseases, an NHMRC Practioner award, numerous publications and several patents.

Dr Visvanathan is also the editor of the journal Inflammation Research and is an active reviewer for a number of other journals. Looking to the future, Dr Visvanathan and his team are well placed to continue to focus on the innate immunological response to infection, including rotavirus, toxic shock and septic shock as well as inflammatory diseases such as chronic hepatitis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Publications 2002-2008

  1. Preiss S, Thompson A, Chen X, Rodgers S, Markovska V, Desmond P, Visvanathan K, Li K, Locarnini S, Revill P. Characterization of the innate immune signalling pathways in hepatocyte cell lines. J Viral Hepat. 2008 Jul 28.
  2. Visvanathan K, Skinner N, Thompson AJ, et al. Rapid improvement of innate immune responses and monocyte toll-like receptor-2 (TLR2) expression during lamivudine and pegylated interferon therapy for chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Hepatology. 2007 Oct;46(4):650A-A.
  3. Thompson A, Locarnini S, Visvanathan K. The Natural History and the Staging of Chronic Hepatitis B: Time for Reevaluation of the Virus-Host Relationship Based on Molecular Virology and Immunopathogenesis Considerations? Gastroenterology. 2007;133(3):1031-5.
  4. Thompson A, Littlejohn M, Ayres A, Lim S G, Lau GK, Visvanathan K, Bowden SD, Desmond PV, Locarnini S.  Intrahepatic and serum markers of HBV replication and their relationship to serum HBeAg titres: Implications for the use of quantitative HBeAg testing as a predictive tool for treatment outcome. Hepatology. 2007 Oct;46(4):671A-2A.
  5. Pathirana RD, O'Brien-Simpson NM, Visvanathan K, Hamilton JA, Reynolds EC. Flow cytometric analysis of adherence of Porphyromonas gingivalis to oral epithelial cells. Infect Immun. 2007 May;75(5):2484-92.
  6. Chapman SJ, Woolley IJ, Visvanathan K, Korman TM. Acute pancreatitis caused by tipranavir/ritonavir-induced hypertriglyceridaemia. AIDS. 2007 Feb 19;21(4):532-533.
  7. Visvanathan K, Skinner NA, Thompson AJ, Riordan SM, Sozzi V, Edwards R, Rodgers S, Kurtovic J, Chang J, Lewin S, Desmond P, Locarnini S.Regulation of Toll-like receptor-2 expression in chronic hepatitis B by the precore protein. Hepatology. 2007 Jan;45(1):102-10.
  8. Riordan SM, Skinner NA, Kurtovic J, Locarnini S, McIver CJ, Williams R, Visvanathan K. Toll-like receptor expression in chronic hepatitis C: correlation with pro-inflammatory cytokine levels and liver injury. Inflamm Res. 2006 Jul;55(7):279-85.
  9. Riordan SM, Skinner N, Kurtovic J, Locarnini S, Visvanathan K. Reduced expression of toll-like receptor 2 on peripheral monocytes in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2006 Aug;13(8):972-4.
  10. Chen LF, Woolley IJ, Visvanathan K, Korman TM.Hypovolemic shock and metabolic acidosis in a refugee secondary to O1 serotype Vibrio cholerae enteritis. Commun Dis Intell. 2006;30(2):233-5.
  11. Harrington Z, Visvanathan K, Skinner NA, Curtis N, Currie BJ, Carapetis JR.B-cell antigen D8/17 is a marker of rheumatic fever susceptibility in Aboriginal Australians and can be tested in remote settings. Med J Aust. 2006 May 15;184(10):507-10.
  12. Visvanathan K, Lewin SR.Immunopathogenesis: role of innate and adaptive immune responses. Semin Liver Dis. 2006 May;26(2):104-15.
  13. Sundararajan V, Korman T, Macisaac C, Presneill JJ, Cade JF, Visvanathan K. The microbiology and outcome of sepsis in Victoria, Australia. Epidemiol Infect. 2006 Apr;134(2):307-14.
  14. Skinner NA, MacIsaac CM, Hamilton JA, Visvanathan K. Regulation of Toll-like receptor (TLR)2 and TLR4 on CD14dimCD16+ monocytes in response to sepsis-related antigens. Clin Exp Immunol. 2005 Aug;141(2):270-8.
  15. Sundararajan V, Macisaac CM, Presneill JJ, Cade JF, Visvanathan K. Epidemiology of sepsis in Victoria, Australia. Crit Care Med. 2005 Jan;33(1):71-80.
  16. Cook AD, Visvanathan K. Molecular targets in immune-mediated diseases: focus on rheumatoid arthritis. Expert Opin Ther Targets. 2004 Oct;8(5):375-90.
  17. Korman TM, Boers A, Gooding TM, Curtis N, Visvanathan K. Fatal case of toxic shock-like syndrome due to group C streptococcus associated with superantigen exotoxin. J Clin Microbiol. 2004 Jun;42(6):2866-9.
  18. Stocker CF, Shekerdemian LS, Visvanathan K, Skinner N, Brizard CP, Carlin JB, Horton SB, Penny DJ.Cardiopulmonary bypass elicits a prominent innate immune response in children with congenital heart disease. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 2004 May;127(5):1523-5.
  19. Visvanathan K, Sundararajan V, Pugach P, Zabriskie JB.Postoperative cognitive decline: association with preoperative tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2003 Nov;51(11):1673-4.
  20. MacIsaac C, Curtis N, Cade J, Visvanathan K.Rapid analysis of the Vbeta repertoire of CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes in whole blood. J Immunol Methods. 2003 Dec;283(1-2):9-15.
  21. Riordan SM, Skinner N, Nagree A, McCallum H, McIver CJ, Kurtovic J, Hamilton JA, Bengmark S, Williams R, Visvanathan K.Peripheral blood mononuclear cell expression of toll-like receptors and relation to cytokine levels in cirrhosis. Hepatology. 2003 May;37(5):1154-64.