Meenakshi Upreti, PhD

Meenakshi Upreti, PhD, is a Senior Scientist in the Division of Neurosurgery at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Dr. Upreti received her PhD in Molecular Oncology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. Her dissertation earned her an invitation to present her work at the 2003 Eukaryotic Gene Expression meeting at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

As a part of her American Cancer Society fellowship, she investigated the impact of chemotherapeutic drugs on the molecular mechanism of apoptotic cell death in cancer cells. Before joining CHLA, she served as faculty in the College of Pharmacy, University of Kentucky, and member of the Markey Cancer Center. In research supported by the National Cancer Institute, she developed 3D tumor tissue analogs that incorporate tumor, stromal and structural characteristics to evaluate a novel radiation-guided receptor-targeting strategy for cancer.

In her research, Dr. Upreti uses 3D tumor tissue analogs as representative oncology models, as well as candidate therapeutics in early clinical development for treatment of highly aggressive pediatric brain tumors. Her multidisciplinary collaborations at CHLA address unmet challenges in these lethal, hard-to-treat childhood brain malignancies. These initiatives have been a critical pillar in the success of her research projects, garnering acknowledgement from federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Defense (Concept Award), and the Children’s Cancer Research Fund and Alternatives Research & Development Foundation.