Kalil G. Abdullah, MD, MSc

Assistant Professor, Director of Translational Neuro Oncology

Office Location:

UPMC Cancer Pavilion
5150 Centre Ave
4th Floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15232

Contact Information:

Office Telephone: (412) 864-7571
Email: abdullahkg@upmc.edu

Research Interests:

Our lab is a fast-paced, bench-to-bedside laboratory focused on identifying vulnerable elements in glioma to facilitate rapid translational of therapeutics. As a surgeon-scientist, my work leverages immediate access of brain tumor tissue samples from the operating room allowing for novel approaches to drug assessment and development. Our approach to development of trainees is a graduated approach to scientific autonomy, allowing for progressive ability to explore interesting concepts in the setting of a structured, self-driven project. Encouraging the growth and development of talented individuals is a paramount goal of our group.

Selected Publications:

Yu S, Wei S, Savani M, Lin X, Du K, Mender I, Siteni S, Vasilopoulos T, Charbonneau CM, Sugarman E, Bowie ML, Hariharan S, Waitkus MS, Lu Y, Herlyn M, Mills GB, Herbig U, Wei Z, Keir ST, Flaherty KT, Shay JW, Abdullah KG, Zhang G, Ashley DM. A Modified Nucleoside 6-thio-2’-deoxyguanosine Exhibits Anti-tumor Activity in Gliomas. Clin Cancer Res 2021 Dec 15;27(24):6800-6814. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-21-0374. PMID: 34593527; PMCID: PMC8678347.

Abdullah KG, Bird CE, Buehler J, Gattie L, Savani M, Sternisha A,Xiao Y, Hicks WH, Levitt M, Li W, Ramirez D, Patel TR, Garzon-Muvdi T, Barnett S, Hatanpaa K, Richardson TE, McBrayer SK. Establishment of patient-derived organoid models of lower grade. Neuro Oncology. Nov 2021 https://doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/noab273

H Hicks, W.H., Bird, C.E., Gattie, L.C. El Shami M, Traylor JI, Shi DD, McBrayer SK, Abdullah KG. Creation and Development of Patient-Derived Organoids for Therapeutic Screening in Solid Cancer. Curr Stem Cell Rep 8, 107–117 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40778-022-00211-2

Wei S, Yin D, Lin X, Savani M, Du K, Bowie M, Hariharan S, Waitkus M, Keir S, Sugarman E, Lu Y, Mills G, Herlyn M, Wei Z, Flaherty K, Abdullah KG, Zhang G, Ashley DM. Anti-tumor activity of a mitochondrial targeted HSP90 inhibitor in gliomas Clin Cancer Res. 2022 May 13;28(10):2180-2195. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-21-0833. PMID: 35247901.

Buehler JD, Bird CE, Savani MR, Gattie LC, Hicks WH, Levitt MM, El Shami M, Hatanpaa KH, Richardson TE, McBrayer SK, Abdullah KG. Semi-automated computational assessment of cancer organoid viability using rapid live-cell microscopy Cancer Inform. 2022 May 26;21:11769351221100754. doi: 10.1177/11769351221100754. PMID: 35652106

Shi DD, Savani MR, Levitt MM, Wang AC, Endress JE, Bird CE, Buehler J, Stopka SA, Regan MS, Lin YF, Puliyappadamba VT, Gao W, Khanal J, Evans L, Lee JH, Guo L, Xiao Y, Xu M, Huang B, Jennings RB, Bonal DM, Martin-Sandoval MS, Dang T, Gattie LC, Cameron AB, Lee S, Asara JM, Kornblum HI, Mak TW, Looper RE, Nguyen QD, Signoretti S, Gradl S, Sutter A, Jeffers M, Janzer A, Lehrman MA, Zacharias LG, Mathews TP, Losman JA, Richardson TE, Cahill DP, DeBerardinis RJ, Ligon KL, Xu L, Ly P, Agar NYR, Abdullah KG, Harris IS, Kaelin WG Jr, McBrayer SK. De novo pyrimidine synthesis is a targetable vulnerability in IDH mutant glioma. Cancer Cell. 2022 Sep 12;40(9):939-956.e16. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2022.07.011. Epub 2022 Aug 18. PMID: 35985343; PMCID: PMC9515386.

Traylor JI, Pernik MN, Sternisha AC, McBrayer SK, Abdullah KG. Molecular and Metabolic Mechanisms Underlying Selective 5-Aminolevulinic Acid-Induced Fluorescence in Gliomas. Cancers (Basel). 2021 Feb 2;13(3):580. doi: 10.3390/cancers13030580. PMID: 33540759; PMCID: PMC7867275.