Staff Fellow — Division of Systems Biology

Vikrant Vijay, Ph.D.
(870) 543-7121
NCTRResearch@fda.hhs.gov  

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 About  |  Publications

Background

Dr. Vikrant Vijay received his initial training in veterinary medicine. He earned a bachelor’s degree in veterinary science and animal husbandry with distinction from Acharya N. G. Ranga Agricultural University in India. He earned a master’s degree in veterinary science (veterinary pharmacology major and molecular biology and biotechnology minor) with distinction from Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology in India. Dr. Vijay came to the United States to pursue his doctorate and earned a Ph.D. in comparative biomedical science — pharmacology/toxicology from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC. After a brief employment at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/National Toxicology Program following his doctorate, Dr. Vijay accepted a postdoctoral researcher (Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education fellow) position at FDA’s National Center for Toxicology Research (NCTR) in 2009.

Since 2012, Dr. Vijay has worked in the capacity of staff fellow (pharmacologist) in the Personalized Medicine Branch of NCTR’s Division of Systems Biology. The main focus of his research is to identify novel biomarkers of toxicity and disease. Dr. Vijay has received numerous awards for his outstanding achievements and contributions to promote public health, which include FDA’s “Outstanding Service Award” (2014 and 2017), NCTR’s “Outstanding Service Group Award” (2014), NCTR’s “Special Act Award” (2014, 2017, 2019, and 2021), NCTR’s “Outstanding Junior Investigator Award” (2016), and Excellence in Laboratory Science (2020). In addition, Dr. Vijay has served as chair in several platform and poster sessions as well as peer mentor for the Undergraduate Education Program at Society of Toxicology meetings and supervisory mentor for undergraduate students in summer student research program at NCTR.

Research Interests

The overall goal of Dr. Vijay’s research is to safeguard public health by reducing harm from unsafe agents and to promote personalized medicine by discovering new biomarkers and understanding their role in the causation of drug-induced toxicity. Dr. Vijay is an expert in developing and utilizing diverse computational approaches to integrate, analyze, and interpret toxicological and omics data. For more than a decade, his research has focused on advancing predictive-toxicology and precision-medicine efforts. He made significant contributions to these fields by developing QSAR (Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship) models to predict dermal toxicity of biocides in occupational workers during his doctoral research. He also built a liver toxicity knowledge base to help predict drug-induced liver injury during his postdoctoral research. Dr. Vijay’s ongoing research aims to identify omics biomarkers from in vivo tests that may predict occurrence of adverse effects in response to drugs such as doxorubicin in certain individuals or subpopulations and molecular biomarkers that may predict age- and sex-related susceptibilities to drug toxicities.

Drugs are developed with an aim to treat disorders and significant effort is invested to make them effective and safe. While most patients have favorable outcomes with mild side effects, a minority develop serious or severe drug-induced adverse events. The reason for developing these adverse events in certain individuals can be diverse, and may be attributed to differences in genetics (molecular makeup), the way body interacts with drugs, physiological conditions, nutrition, sex, age, body composition, polypharmacy, environmental conditions, lifestyle habits, etc.

Any one or more of these aforementioned factors can cause different molecular events leading to adverse effects. An investigation of these molecular events has resulted in many predictive and diagnostic biomarkers and has improved our understanding of the toxicity mechanisms for several drugs. Therefore, Dr. Vijay’s current projects focus on using omics data to understand target organ susceptibility and possible age and/or sex differences to doxorubicin and two other classes of drugs, namely, tyrosine kinase inhibitors and drugs that affect mitochondria.

These are important regulatory science projects with major applications in FDA’s efforts to assure safe and effective drugs.

Professional Societies/National and International Groups

Sigma Xi
Full Member
2010 – 2017

Society of Toxicology

Full Member
2015 – Present

Student and Postdoc Member
2006 – 2015

Selected Publications

MicroRNA-34a-5p as a Promising Early Circulating Preclinical Biomarker of Doxorubicin-Induced Chronic Cardiotoxicity.
Desai V.G., Vijay V., Lee T., Han T., Moland C.L., Phanavanh B., Herman E.H., Stine K., and Fuscoe J.C. 
J Appl Toxicol. 2022, doi: 10.1002/jat.4309. Online ahead of print.

Doxorubicin-Induced Delayed-Onset Subclinical Cardiotoxicity in Mice.
Desai V.G., Vijay V., Han T., Moland C.L., Phanavanh B., Lee T., Davis K.J., Muskhelishvili L., Stine K.C., and Fuscoe J.C. 
J Appl Toxicol. 2021, doi: 10.1002/jat.4256. Online ahead of print.

Progress Towards an OECD Reporting Framework for Transcriptomics and Metabolomics in Regulatory Toxicology.
Harrill J.A., Viant M.R., Yauk C.L., Sachana M., Gant T.W., Auerbach S.S., Beger R.D., Bouhifd M., O'Brien J., Burgoon L., Caiment F., Carpi D., Chen T., Chorley B.N., Colbourne J., Corvi R., Debrauwer L., O'Donovan C., Ebbels T.M.D., Ekman D.R., Faulhammer F., Gribaldo L., Hilton G.M., Jones S.P., Kende A., Lawson T.N., Leite S.B., Leonards P.E.G., Luijten M., Martin A., Moussa L., Rudaz S., Schmitz O., SobanskiT., Strauss V., Vaccari M., Vijay V., Weber R.J.M., Williams A.J., Williams A., Thomas R.S., and Whelan M. 
Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2021, 125:105020.

Gene Expression Profiling in Dorsolateral Prostates of Prepubertal and Adult Sprague-Dawley Rats Dosed with Estradiol Benzoate, Estradiol, and Testosterone.
Nakamura N., Vijay V., and Sloper D.
J Toxicol Sci. 2020, 45(8):435-447.

Hepatic Transcript Profiles of Cytochrome P450 Genes Predict Sex Differences in Drug Metabolism.
Fuscoe J., Vijay V., Hanig J., Han T., Ren L., Greenhaw J., Beger R., Pence L., and Shi Q.
Drug Metab Dispos. 2020, 48(6):447-458.

Candidate Early Predictive Plasma Protein Markers of Doxorubicin-Induced Chronic Cardiotoxicity in B6C3F1 Mice.
Desai V., Lee T., Moland C., Vijay V., Han T., Lewis S., Herman E., and Fuscoe J.
Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2019, 363:164-173.

Transcript Profiling in the Testes and Prostates of Postnatal Day 30 Sprague-Dawley Rats Exposed Prenatally and Lactationally to 2-hydroxy-4-Methoxybenzophenone.
Nakamura N., Vijay V., Desai V., Hansen D., Han T., Chang C., Chen Y., Harrouk W., McIntyre B., Foster P., Fuscoe J., and Inselman A.
Reprod Toxicol. 2018, 82:111-123.

In Vitro Modulation of Redox and Metabolism Interplay at the Brain Vascular Endothelium: Genomic and Proteomic Profiles of Sulforaphane Activity.
Sajja R, Kaisar M, Vijay V, Desai V, Prasad S, and Cucullo L.
Sci Rep. 2018, Aug 23;8(1):12708.

Sex and Age Differences in the Expression of Liver microRNAs During the Life Span of F344 Rats.
Kwekel J.C., Vijay V., Han T., Moland C.L., Desai V.G., and Fuscoe J.C.
Biol Sex Differ. 2017, 8:6.

Stably Expressed Genes Involved in Basic Cellular Functions.
Wang K., Vijay V., and Fuscoe J.C.
PLoS One. 2017, 12(1):e0170813.

Sex-Related Differential Susceptibility to Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity in B6C3F1 Mice.
Jenkins G.R., Lee T., Moland C.L., Vijay V., Herman E.H., Lewis S.M., Davis K.J., Muskhelishvili L., Kerr S., Fuscoe J.C., and Desai V.G.
Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2016, 310:159-174.

Early Metabolomics Changes in Heart and Plasma During Chronic Doxorubicin Treatment in B6C3F1 Mice.
Schnackenberg L.K., Pence L., Vijay V., Moland C.L., George N., Cao Z., Yu L.R., Fuscoe J.C., Beger R.D., and Desai V.G.
J Appl Toxicol. 2016, 36(11):1486-95.

Early Transcriptional Changes in Cardiac Mitochondria During Chronic Doxorubicin Exposure and Mitigation by Dexrazoxane in Mice.
Vijay V., Moland C.L., Han T., Fuscoe J.C., Lee T., Herman E.H., Jenkins G.R., Lewis S.M., Cummings C.A., Gao Y., Cao Z., Yu L.R., and Desai V.G.
Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2016, 295:68-84.

Reproductive Hormone Levels and Differential Mitochondria-Related Oxidative Gene Expression as Potential Mechanisms for Gender Differences in Cardiosensitivity to Doxorubicin in Tumor-Bearing Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats.
Gonzalez Y., Pokrzywinski K.L., Rosen E.T., Mog S., Aryal B., Chehab L.M., Vijay V., Moland C.L., Desai V.G., Dickey J.S., and Rao V.A.
Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 2015, 76(3):447-59.

Age and Sex Differences in Kidney MicroRNA Expression During the Life Span of F344 Rats.
Kwekel J.C., Vijay V., Desai V.G., Moland C.L., and Fuscoe J.C.
Biol Sex Differ. 2015, 6(1):1.

Sexual Dimorphism in the Expression of Mitochondria-Related Genes in Rat Heart at Different Ages.
Vijay V., Han T., Moland C.L., Kwekel J.C., Fuscoe J.C., and Desai V.G.
PLoS One. 2015, 10(1):e0117047.

Early Biomarkers of Doxorubicin-Induced Heart Injury in a Mouse Model.
Desai V.G., Kwekel J.C., Vijay V., Moland C.L., Herman EH., Lee T., Han T., Lewis S.M., Davis K.J., Muskhelishvili L., Kerr S., and Fuscoe J.C.
Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2014, 281(2):221-9.

Life Cycle Analysis of Kidney Gene Expression in Male F344 Rats.
Kwekel J.C., Desai V.G., Moland C.L., Vijay V., and Fuscoe J.C.
PLoS One. 2013, 8(10):e75305.

Sex Differences in Kidney Gene Expression During the Life Cycle of F344 Rats.
Kwekel J.C., Desai V.G., Moland C.L., Vijay V., and Fuscoe J.C.
Biol Sex Differ. 2013, 4(1):14.

FDA-Approved Drug Labeling for the Study of Drug-Induced Liver Injury.
Chen M., Vijay V., Shi Q., Liu Z., Fang H., and Tong W.
Drug Discov Today. 2011, 16(15-16):697-703.