Sunil S. Raikar, MD

Research Program

Discovery and Developmental Therapeutics
Email Address

sraikar@emory.edu

Biography

Sunil S. Raikar, MD, is an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine. A physician-scientist, Dr. Raikar is a member of both the Cell and Gene Therapy Program and the Leukemia-Lymphoma Program at the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorder Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta/Emory University.

Education

Dr. Raikar earned his MD from Saint Louis University School of Medicine in Saint Louis, Missouri where he also completed his residency in pediatrics. He completed his post-doctoral training with a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.

Titles & Roles

Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics

Emory University School of Medicine

Professional Memberships

Dr. Raikar is also a member of the Discovery and Developmental Therapeutics Research Program at Winship Cancer Institute. He holds memberships with multiple professional organizations including American Society for Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Children's Oncology Group, American Society of Hematology and American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy.

Research

The overall goal of Dr Raikar’s research program is to develop novel therapeutics for pediatric blood cancers through (i) development of innovative cellular immunotherapies utilizing chimeric antigen receptors, (ii) production of novel recombinant protein-based therapeutics such as L-asparaginase and (iii) identifying new therapeutic targets in rare leukemias utilizing advanced bioinformatic tools. The specific diseases his laboratory investigates include acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia and mixed phenotype acute leukemia.

Publications

Title/Journal	Authors	Publication Date
Real-world outcomes for young adult patients receiving CD19 CAR T-cell therapy. Blood advances	H Lust, LM Schultz, S Kwon, GW Roloff, I Aldoss, C Baggott, S John, JE Rossoff, KO McNerney, VA Fabrizio, JA Talano, A Moskop, KJ Curran, CL Phillips, N Karras, SHC Baumeister, SL Cooper, M Hermiston, P Satwani, M Qayed, SS Raikar, M MacMillan, E Hall, K Nguyen, RD Cassaday, NE Kopmar, VK Kota, J Mathews, P Shaughnessy, MS Schwartz, A Ladha, G Yaghmour, MV Kumaran, V Bachanova, S Tracy, T Othman, MR Luskin, EC Chen, AS Advani, N Jeyakumar, K Miller, A Zhang, KC Sutherland, BD Shah, L Muffly, R Faramand	06/10/2025
Identification of leukemia-enriched signature through the development of a comprehensive pediatric single-cell atlas. Nature communications	HL Mumme, C Huang, D Ohlstrom, M Bakhtiari, SS Raikar, D DeRyckere, M Qayed, SM Castellino, DS Wechsler, CC Porter, DK Graham, SS Bhasin, M Bhasin	05/02/2025
Project EVOLVE: An international analysis of postimmunotherapy lineage switch, an emergent form of relapse in leukemia. Blood	SK Silbert, AW Rankin, CN Hoang, A Semchenkova, RM Myers, E Zerkalenkova, HW Wang, AE Kovach, CM Yuan, D Delgado Colon, L Vasseur, A Bataller, S John, K Utley Lyons, BD Friedes, A Alonso-Saladrigues, H Abdel-Azim, E Balducci, A Aljudi, M Balsat, DN Biery, A Chamdin, BH Chang, RS Cuevo, B De Moerloose, DS Dickens, UA Duffner, N Duployez, F El Chaer, MA Elliott, G Escherich, S Fernandes, MR Fitzjohn, ZJ Gahvari, SA Grupp, RR He, C Harrison, CB Hergott, EM Hsieh, AS Kim, DJ Kuo, DP Larson, BJ Lee, TT Leguay, RC Lindsley, AA Mangaonkar, K Mezger, HL Pacenta, J Pan, MRM Provost, L Puri, SS Raikar, AJ Martinez, IQ Bristol, KD Murphy, L Reiman, MS Redell, K Reed, G Roth Guepin, JD Rubinstein, S Savaşan, KT Schafernak, A McLean Stevens, AC Talleur, N Torres Carapia, J Vargaftig, A Vatsayan, M Wölfl, L Zhao, S Rives, VA Fabrizio, K Sasaki, I Aldoss, N Boissel, SR Rheingold, KL Davis, S Ghorashian, E Jacoby, A Popov, AJ Lamble, NN Shah	04/07/2025
Engineering safe anti-CD19-CD28ζ CAR T cells with CD8a hinge domain in serum-free media for adoptive immunotherapy. Frontiers in immunology	M Muthuvel, T Ganapathy, T Spencer, SS Raikar, S Thangavel, A Srivastava, S Martin	01/01/2025
MERTK inhibition selectively activates a DC - T-cell axis to provide anti-leukemia immunity. Leukemia	JM Huelse, SS Bhasin, KM Jacobsen, J Yim, BE Thomas, GM Branella, M Bakhtiari, ML Chimenti, TA Baxter, SS Raikar, X Wang, SV Frye, CJ Henry, HS Earp, M Bhasin, D DeRyckere, DK Graham	12/01/2024
Real-world use of tisagenlecleucel in children and young adults with relapsed or refractory B-cell lymphomas. Blood advances	JD Bender, S Damodharan, CM Capitini, A Moskop, K Toner, A Vatsayan, JA Talano, C Baggott, D Schiff, E Katsanis, AJ Modi, TC Quigg, SS Raikar, LM Schultz, L Pommert	08/13/2024
Development of a microfluidic cell transfection device into gene-edited CAR T cell manufacturing workflow. Lab on a chip	T Yu, N Jhita, P Shankles, A Fedanov, N Kramer, SS Raikar, T Sulchek	11/07/2023
Single-cell RNA sequencing distinctly characterizes the wide heterogeneity in pediatric mixed phenotype acute leukemia. Genome medicine	HL Mumme, SS Raikar, SS Bhasin, BE Thomas, T Lawrence, EP Weinzierl, Y Pang, D DeRyckere, C Gawad, DS Wechsler, CC Porter, SM Castellino, DK Graham, M Bhasin	10/16/2023
Single-cell analysis reveals altered tumor microenvironments of relapse- and remission-associated pediatric acute myeloid leukemia. Nature communications	H Mumme, BE Thomas, SS Bhasin, U Krishnan, B Dwivedi, P Perumalla, D Sarkar, GB Ulukaya, HS Sabnis, SI Park, D DeRyckere, SS Raikar, M Pauly, RJ Summers, SM Castellino, DS Wechsler, CC Porter, DK Graham, M Bhasin	10/05/2023
Pediatric T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia blast signature and MRD associated immune environment changes defined by single cell transcriptomics analysis. Scientific reports	SS Bhasin, BE Thomas, RJ Summers, D Sarkar, H Mumme, W Pilcher, M Emam, SS Raikar, SI Park, SM Castellino, DK Graham, MK Bhasin, D DeRyckere	08/02/2023
Enhancing the effectiveness of γδ T cells by mRNA transfection of chimeric antigen receptors or bispecific T cell engagers. Molecular therapy oncolytics	SA Becker, BG Petrich, B Yu, KA Knight, HC Brown, SS Raikar, CB Doering, HT Spencer	06/15/2023
Multicolor Light-Induced Immune Activation via Polymer Photocaged Cytokines. Biomacromolecules	LA Birnbaum, EC Sullivan, P Do, B Uricoli, SS Raikar, CC Porter, CJ Henry, EC Dreaden	03/13/2023
Obesity-induced galectin-9 is a therapeutic target in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Nature communications	M Lee, JAG Hamilton, GR Talekar, AJ Ross, L Michael, M Rupji, B Dwivedi, SS Raikar, J Boss, CD Scharer, DK Graham, D DeRyckere, CC Porter, CJ Henry	03/03/2022
Cryptic t(6;11) KMT2A rearrangement in a pediatric acute myeloid leukemia patient detected by next-generation sequencing and dual-fusion FISH analysis. Pediatric blood & cancer	S Raghunandan, J Jain, D Saxe, M Pauly, AA Aljudi, RP Ketterling, AB Carter, SS Raikar	03/01/2022
PI3Kδ/γ inhibition promotes human CART cell epigenetic and metabolic reprogramming to enhance antitumor cytotoxicity. Blood	CR Funk, S Wang, KZ Chen, A Waller, A Sharma, CL Edgar, VA Gupta, S Chandrakasan, JT Zoine, A Fedanov, SS Raikar, JL Koff, CR Flowers, S Coma, JA Pachter, S Ravindranathan, HT Spencer, M Shanmugam, EK Waller	01/27/2022
Allogeneic gamma delta T cells as adoptive cellular therapy for hematologic malignancies. Exploration of immunology	N Jhita, SS Raikar	01/01/2022
Mixed phenotype acute leukemia in a child associated with a NUP98-NSD1 fusion and NRAS p.Gly61Arg mutation. Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.)	SS Ganapathi, SS Raikar, SA Yatsenko, M Djokic, A Bukowinski	08/01/2021
Interleukin-37 improves T-cell-mediated immunity and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy in aged backgrounds. Aging cell	JAG Hamilton, MY Lee, R Hunter, RS Ank, JY Story, G Talekar, T Sisroe, DB Ballak, A Fedanov, CC Porter, EZ Eisenmesser, CA Dinarello, SS Raikar, J DeGregori, CJ Henry	02/01/2021
Bortezomib enhances cytotoxicity of ex vivo-expanded gamma delta T cells against acute myeloid leukemia and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Cytotherapy	JY Story, JT Zoine, RE Burnham, JAG Hamilton, HT Spencer, CB Doering, SS Raikar	01/01/2021
Sustained Complete Molecular Remission With Imatinib Monotherapy in a Child Presenting With Blast Phase FIP1L1-PDGFRA-Associated Myeloid Neoplasm With Eosinophilia. HemaSphere	J Jain, EP Weinzierl, D Saxe, J Bergsagel, J Gotlib, A Reiter, SS Raikar	12/01/2020
Significance of minimal residual disease in pediatric mixed phenotype acute leukemia: a multicenter cohort study. Leukemia	MJ Oberley, SS Raikar, GB Wertheim, J Malvar, R Sposto, KR Rabin, JN Punia, AE Seif, VC Cahen, RJ Schore, DC Luca, T Guinipero, WG Woods, MRG O'Gorman, E Orgel	07/01/2020
Targeting T cell malignancies using CAR-based immunotherapy: challenges and potential solutions. Journal of hematology & oncology	LC Fleischer, HT Spencer, SS Raikar	12/29/2019
Clonal Evolution of B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia with del(9)(p13p21) into Mixed Phenotype Acute Leukemia Presenting as an Isolated Testicular Relapse. Reports (MDPI)	LH Miller, SI Park, D Saxe, G Lew, SS Raikar	09/01/2019
Acquired Hypofibrinogenemia Before Asparaginase Exposure During Induction Therapy for Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: A Report of 2 Cases and Review of the Literature. Journal of pediatric hematology/oncology	SS Raikar, J Felker, KN Patel, G Lew, RF Sidonio	10/01/2018
Hyperleukocytosis in infant acute leukemia: a role for manual exchange transfusion for leukoreduction. Transfusion	DV Runco, CD Josephson, SS Raikar, KC Goldsmith, G Lew, M Pauly, RM Fasano	05/01/2018
Hurdles Associated with the Translational Use of Genetically Modified Cells. Current stem cell reports	SS Raikar, HT Spencer	03/01/2018
Improving T-cell expansion and function for adoptive T-cell therapy using ex vivo treatment with PI3Kδ inhibitors and VIP antagonists. Blood advances	CT Petersen, M Hassan, AB Morris, J Jeffery, K Lee, N Jagirdar, AD Staton, SS Raikar, HT Spencer, T Sulchek, CR Flowers, EK Waller	02/13/2018
Isolated myeloperoxidase expression in pediatric B/myeloid mixed phenotype acute leukemia is linked with better survival. Blood	SS Raikar, SI Park, T Leong, DL Jaye, FG Keller, JT Horan, WG Woods	02/01/2018
Development of chimeric antigen receptors targeting T-cell malignancies using two structurally different anti-CD5 antigen binding domains in NK and CRISPR-edited T cell lines. Oncoimmunology	SS Raikar, LC Fleischer, R Moot, A Fedanov, NY Paik, KA Knight, CB Doering, HT Spencer	01/01/2018
Genetic engineering of chimeric antigen receptors using lamprey derived variable lymphocyte receptors. Molecular therapy oncolytics	R Moot, SS Raikar, L Fleischer, M Querrey, DE Tylawsky, H Nakahara, CB Doering, HT Spencer	01/01/2016