Pranavkumar Shivakumar

Dr. Pranavkumar Shivakumar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Director of the Biliary Atresia Research and Cure Center. He specializes in pediatric hepatology, focusing on understanding the immune mechanisms driving biliary atresia pathogenesis. His research employs neonatal mouse models and patient-derived organoids to investigate bile duct epithelial injury and inflammation.

Education: Earned pharmaceutical sciences degrees from Karnataka University, India, and advanced technology degrees from the University Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. Completed postdoctoral training in pediatric hepatology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.

Research Interests: Innate and adaptive immune interactions in biliary atresia, liver fibrosis mechanisms, and developing therapeutics to preserve native liver function in infants. Key areas include NLRP3 inflammasome activity, cytokine signaling (TNF-α, IL-1R1), and microbial metabolite influences on disease progression.

Training & Mentorship: Mentored numerous postdoctoral fellows, clinical trainees, and students across medicine and research. Collaborates with gastrointestinal and hepatology fellows to advance biliary atresia education and clinical research.

Labs/Teams: Leads a lab developing innovative models (mouse, organoid systems) to study early-stage biliary injury and fibrosis. Focuses on translating findings into clinical therapies targeting epithelial repair and immune modulation.