I received my Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Purdue University. During my postdoctoral fellowship at National Cancer Institute (NCI), my research focused on better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying HIV integration and the action of antiretroviral drugs targeting HIV integration. As a Research fellow at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, I analyzed and characterized the early events of the HIV life cycle, specifically those involving reverse transcription and uncoating of the viral capsid. I am currently a Project Manager in the Biomedical Research Education and Training Office of Outcomes Research at Vanderbilt University.

·     Varadarajan, J., McWilliams, M.J., and Hughes, S.H. 2013. Treatment with suboptimal doses of Raltegravir leads to aberrant HIV-1 integrations. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110 (36):14747-14752

Article Featured in the “In This Issue” section of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: Zeliadt, N. 2013. Suboptimal doses ofantiretroviral drug induce aberrant HIV-1 integration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(36): 14505. https://www.pnas.org/content/110/36/14505

Highlighted in the National Cancer Institute-Center for Cancer Research’s “In the Journals” featuring articles reported in top journals. Suboptimal doses of Raltegravir cause aberrant HIV-1 integrations. Hanson, M. 2013 (August). In the Journals-Center for Cancer Research.

·      Varadarajan, J., McWilliams, M.J., Mott, B.T., Thomas, C.J., Smith, S., and Hughes, S.H. 2016. Drug resistant integrase mutants cause aberrant HIV integrations. Retrovirology 13, 71.doi:10.1186/s12977-016-0305-6

·   Varadarajan, J., Guilleminot, J., Saint-Jore-Dupas, C., Piégu, B., Chabouté, M.-E.,Gomord, V., Coolbaugh, R.C., Devic, M., and Delorme, V. 2010. ATR3encodes a diflavin reductase essential for Arabidopsis embryo development. New Phytologist, 187: 67–82.

·     Rankovic, S., Varadarajan, J., Ramalho, R., Aiken, C., and Rousso, I. 2017. Reverse Transcription Mechanically Initiates HIV-1 Capsid Disassembly. Journal of virology, 91(12),e00289-17. doi:10.1128/JVI.00289-17.

·       Jennings, J., Shi,J., Varadarajan, J., Jamieson, P.J., and Aiken, C. 2020. The hostcell metabolite inositol hexakisphosphate promotes efficient endogenous HIV-1reverse transcription by stabilizing the viral capsid. mBio11:e02820-20.