Sriram Subramaniam
Professor
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Faculty of Medicine
Gobind Khorana Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Precision Cancer Drug Design
Education
Stanford University, 1987, PhD, in Physical Chemistry
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, 1981, MSc, in Chemistry
Contact
Office: Djavad Mowafaghian Center for Brain Health, 3404
Office Phone: (604) 822–8621
E-mail: sriram.subramaniam@ubc.ca
Website: https://electron.med.ubc.ca/person/sriram-subramaniam/
Research Interest
The overarching mission of our research program is focused on exploring frontiers in structural biology, AI and drug design using cryo electron microscopy (cryo-EM), with the central goal of accelerating the development of effective therapeutic agents. We take an interdisciplinary approach to this problem by combining novel technologies for 3D imaging with computation and machine learning as well as cell and molecular biology.
Dr. Subramaniam is also the Director of PROGENITER, a UBC-affiliated, nationally recognized, CBRF-BRIF research program to enable the rapid design, engineering, and production of antibody leads against present and future viral diseases to ensure Canada is better prepared for the next pandemic.
The PROGENITER team comprises of researchers and industry partners working together to discover, test, and advance therapeutics that target infectious diseases at an accelerated pace. PROGENITER is a key component of Canada’s Immuno-Engineering and Biomanufacturing Hub (CIEBH) and is aligned with its mission for rapidly responding to new health threats and supporting Canada’s Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy (BLSS).
For more information on our Program please visit: https://electron.med.ubc.ca/.
Comprehensive List
Selected Publications
- Subramaniam S, Saville JW, Feng F, Freiburger L. Therapeutic Antibodies for Infectious Diseases: Recent Past, Present, and Future (2025). Biochemistry 64(16):3487-3494.
- Mannar D, Saville JW, Poloni C, Zhu X, Berezuk A, Tidey K, Ahmed S, Tuttle KS, Vahdatihassani F, Cholak S, Cook L, Steiner TS, Subramaniam S. Altered receptor binding, antibody evasion and retention of T cell recognition by the SARS-CoV-2 XBB.1.5 spike protein (2024) Nature Communications 15: 1854.
- Mannar D, Ahmed S, Subramaniam S. AAA ATPase protein-protein interactions as therapeutic targets in cancer (2024) Current Opinion in Cell Biology 86: 102291.
- Marcus K, Huang Y, Subramanian S, Gee CL, Gorday K, Ghaffari-Kashani S, Luo XR, Zheng L, O’Donnell M, Subramaniam S, Kuriyan J. Autoinhibition of a clamp-loader ATPase revealed by deep mutagenesis and cryo-EM (2024). Nat Struct Mol Biol 31: 424-435.
- Subramaniam S. Structural Biology in the Age of AI (2024) Nature Methods 21: 18-19.
- Cholak S, Saville JW, Zhu X, Berezuk AM, Tutte KS, Haji-Ghassemi O, Alvarado FJ, Van Petegem F, Subramaniam S. Allosteric Modulation of Ryanodine Receptor RyR1 by Nucleotide Derivatives (2023) Structure 31: 1-11.
- Saville JW, Mannar D, Zhu X, Berezuk AM, Cholak S, Tuttle KS, Vahdatihassani F, Subramaniam S. Structural Analysis of Receptor Engagement and Antigenic Drift within the BA.2 Spike Protein (2023) Cell Rep 42: 111964.
- Mannar D, Saville JW, Zhu X, Srivastava SS, Berezuk AM, Tuttle KS, Marquez C, Sekirov I, Subramaniam S. SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant: Antibody Evasion and Cryo-EM Structure of Spike Protein-ACE2 Complex (2022) Science 375: 760-764.
- Subramaniam S, Kleywegt GJ. A Paradigm Shift in Structural Biology (2022) Nat Methods 19: 20-23.
- Saville JW, Berezuk AM, Srivastava SS, Subramaniam S. Three-Dimensional Visualization of Viral Structure, Entry, and Replication Underlying the Spread of SARS-CoV-2 (2022) Chem Rev 122: 14066–14084.
- Saville JW, Mannar D, Zhu X, Srivastava SS, Berezuk AM, Demers JP, Zhou S, Tuttle KS, Sekirov I, Kim A, Li W, Dimitrov DS, Subramaniam S. Structural and Biochemical Rationale for Enhanced Spike Protein Fitness in Delta and Kappa SARS-CoV-2 Variants (2022) Nat Commun 13: 742.
- Subramaniam S, Danino D. Introduction: Cryo-EM in Biology and Materials Research (2022) Chem Rev 122: 13881-13882.
- Mannar D, Saville JW, Sun Z, Zhu X, Marti MM, Srivastava SS, Berezuk AM, Zhou S, Tuttle KS, Sobolewski MD, Kim A, Treat BR, Castanha PMDS, Jacobs JL, Barratt-Boyes SM, Mellors JW, Dimitrov DS, Li W, Subramaniam S. SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern: Spike Protein Mutational Analysis and Epitope for Broad Neutralization (2022) Nat Commun 13: 4696.
- Subramaniam, S., Kleywegt, G.J. A paradigm shift in structural biology Nature Methods 19(1), 20-23. (2022)
- Mannar D, Saville JW, Zhu X, Srivastava SS, Berezuk AM, Tuttle KS, Marquez C, Sekirov I, Subramaniam S. SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant: Antibody evasion and cryo-EM structure of spike protein–ACE2 complex Science 10.1126/science.abn7760. (2022)
- Mannar D, Saville JW, Zhu X, Srivastava SS, Berezuk AM, Zhou S, Tuttle KS, Kim A, Li W, Dimitrov DS, Subramaniam S. Structural Analysis of Receptor Binding Domain Mutations in SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern that Modulate ACE2 and Antibody Binding Cell Reports 37(12):110156. (2021)
- Zhu, X, Clarke, R, Puppala, AK, Chittori, S, Merk, A, Merrill B.J, Simonovic, M, Subramaniam, S. Cryo-EM structures reveal coordinated domain motions that govern DNA cleavage by Cas9 Nat Struct Mol Biol. 26(8):679-685. (2019)
- Chittori, S, Hong, J, Saunders, H, Feng, H, Ghirlando, R, Kelly, AE, Bai, Y, Subramaniam, S. Structural mechanisms of centromeric nucleosome recognition by the kinetochore protein CENP-N Science 359(6373), 339-343. (2018)