Faculty Profile: Anil Shanker

Anil Shanker, PH.D is the Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Cancer Biology at Meharry Medical College. After receiving a PhD in tumor immunology in 1999 from Banaras Hindu University, India, Dr. Anil Shanker performed his postdoctoral studies at the CNRS/INSERM Centre d’Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, France, and the National Cancer Institute, Maryland. He is also a member of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center of Vanderbilt University. His laboratory focuses on understanding the biology and the regulation of lymphocyte functions in cancer. Using mouse models of cancer, his work provided key evidence that the adaptive immunity against tumor cells can also activate innate immunity, which together effectively eliminate tumors including the tumor escape variants. His efforts are directed at dissecting the mechanisms of cross-talk between the tumor-specific T cells and natural killer cells and applying those mechanisms of immune cooperativity in combination with molecular targeting and immunostimulatory agents against cancer.