Balaji Sadhasivam, Ph.D.

Phone: (405) 271-8001, x46867

Office: Hudson College of Public Health

801 Northeast 13th Street, Room 417

Post Office Box 26901

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104

Email: Balaji-Sadhasivam@ouhsc.edu

Dr. Balaji Sadhasivam is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health. Dr. Sadhasivam completed his PhD in Endocrinology-Biotechnology at the University of Madras and his Postdoctoral fellowship at the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC). Dr. Sadhasivam has expertise in the field of environmental toxicology, tobacco, and electronic cigarette use-associated genotoxicity (DNA damage quantification, mutagenicity assessment), cancer risk assessment, and impact on cancer treatment outcomes. Dr. Sadhasivam's lab primarily focused on understanding the effects of preventable risk factors on cancer risk and its impacts on cancer treatment outcomes by studying the underlying mechanisms in both in vitro and in vivo settings, comparable to patient-oriented outcomes.  
 

Education:

• PhD, Biotechnology-Endocrinology, University of Madras, Chennai, India, 2017
• MPhil, Endocrinology, University of Madras, Chennai, India, 2011
• MS, Animal Biotechnology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, India, 2009
• BS, Animal Science-Biotechnology, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, India, 2007

Appointments:

• Assistant Professor, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, OUHSC, 2023–present
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, OUHSC, 2019-2023
• Associate Research Fellow, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, OUHSC, 2016-2019
• Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Endocrinology, University of Madras, 2011–2016

Teaching:

• OEH 5553     Occupational and Environmental Toxicology

Research Interests:

• Assessing environmental exposure to tobacco and tobacco-related product-induced genotoxicity, cancer risk assessment
• Studying the impact of preventable risk factors on cancer treatment outcomes
• Understanding the impact of tobacco on cancer treatment outcomes among populations with comorbidities

Publications:
Link to ‪Balaji Sadhasivam‬ - ‪Google Scholar publication ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬ ‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

Selected Publications:

1. Sadhasivam B, Manyanga J, Ganapathy V, Acharya P, Bouharati C, Chinnaiyan M, Mehta T, Mathews B, Castles S, Rubenstein DA, et al. Exposure to Secondhand Smoke Extract Increases Cisplatin Resistance in Head and Neck Cancer Cells. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 2024; 25(2):1032. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25021032 
2. Manyanga J, Ganapathy V, Bouharati C, Mehta T, Sadhasivam B, Acharya P, Zhao YD, and Queimado L. Electronic cigarette aerosols increase the expression of drug efflux transporters and cisplatin resistance in human oral cancer cells. Scientific Reports 11 (1), 1-14, 2021. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-81148-0 
3. Floyd E, Greenlee S, Oni T, Sadhasivam B and Queimado L. The effect of flow rate on a third-generation sub-ohm tank electronic nicotine delivery system-comparison of CORESTA flow rates to more realistic flow rates. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 (14), 7535, 2021. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7535
4. Lazer LM, Sadhasivam B, Palaniyandi K, Muthuswamy T, Ramachandran I, Balakrishnan A, Pathak S, Narayan S, Ramalingam S. Chitosan-based nano-formulation enhances the anticancer efficacy of hesperetin. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 107:1988–199, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2017.10.064
5. Ganapathy V, Manyanga J, Brame L, McGuire D, Sadhasivam B, Floyd E, Rubenstein D, Ramachandran I, Wagener T, Queimado L. Electronic cigarette aerosols suppress cellular antioxidant defenses and induce significant oxidative DNA damage. PLoS ONE 12(5): e0177780, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177780. Our manuscript has been in PLoS One's top 10% most cited articles for the past 3 years.