Ani Oganesyan
Biography
Ani Oganesyan, Ph.D., is Associate Project Scientist in the Department of Neurology at the University of California, Irvine. She received her Ph.D. in Microbiology & Molecular Genetics from the University of California, Irvine in 2007, followed by postdoctoral training at the UC Irvine Institute for Immunology, where she was supported by an NIH National Research Service Award F32 Fellowship from NIAID. Her research focuses on the role of N-glycosylation in T cell regulation and autoimmunity.
Oganesyan has contributed to the development of novel therapeutic approaches for autoimmune diseases and cancer. She served as Principal Investigator on an NIAID SBIR grant investigating N-acetylglucosamine analogs for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. She co-founded Glixis Therapeutics, where she served as Chief Scientific Officer from 2012 to 2016, working to develop therapeutics for autoimmune disease. Her recent work has focused on developing GlyTR CAR T cells for cancer immunotherapy, which has been supported by a California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Translational 1 grant.
Oganesyan has published extensively on the mechanisms by which N-glycan biosynthesis regulates T cell-mediated immune responses. Her work has appeared in journals including Cell, Nature Immunology, Nature Communications, and Journal of Biological Chemistry. Several of her publications have been recognized by Faculty of 1000 and featured as Papers of the Week in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Return to topEducation
- B.S. in Organismic Biology, Ecology, and Evolution, University of California, Los Angeles, 2001
- Ph.D. in Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, University of California, Irvine, 2007
Distinctions
- National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Research Service Award F32 Fellowship Award, 2009-2011
- UCLA Laboratory of NeuroImaging- Honors Neuroscience Student Research, 2000-2001
- UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies- Advanced Independent Undergraduate Research, 1998-2001
- Peter and Alice Koomruian Undergraduate Education Award, 1998
- California State Honor Society AGS Scholarship Award, 1997
- Scholars and Honors Program Scholarship Award, 1998
- La Crescenta Womens' Club Scholarship Award, 1998
Areas of Expertise
- Autoimmune Disease Mechanisms
- N-Glycan Biosynthesis Regulation
- T Cell Receptor Signaling
- Galectin-Glycoprotein Lattice Interactions
- Density-Dependent Tumor Targeting
- CAR T Cell Therapy
- N-Acetylglucosamine Analog Development
Recent Publications
- Zhou RW, Purohit PK, Kim JH, Lee SU, Burshteyn N, Tifrea D, Cordon A, Grigorian A, Newton BL, Edwards RA, Demetriou M, “Safe immunosuppression-resistant pan-cancer immunotherapeutics by velcro-like density-dependent targeting of tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens”, Cell, vol. 188, no. 24, pp. 6737-6753.e18, 2025.
- Lee S.U., Li C.F., Mortales C.L., Pawling J., Dennis J.W., Grigorian A., Demetriou M., “Increasing cell permeability of N-acetylglucosamine via 6-acetylation enhances capacity to suppress T-helper 1 (TH1)/TH17 responses and autoimmunity”, PLoS One, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. e0214253, 2019.
- Zhou R.W., Mkhikian H., Grigorian A., Hong A., Chen D., Arakelyan A., Demetriou M., “N-glycosylation bi-directionally extends the boundaries of thymocyte positive selection by decoupling Lck from Ca²⁺ signaling”, Nature Immunology, vol. 15, pp. 1038-45, 2014.
- Grigorian A., Mkhikian H., Demetriou M., “Interleukin-2, Interleukin-7, T cell mediated autoimmunity and N-glycosylation”, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol. 1253, pp. 49-57, 2012.
- Grigorian A., Mkhikian H., Li C.F., Newton B.L., Zhou R.W., Demetriou M., “Pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis via environmental and genetic dysregulation of N-glycosylation”, Seminars in Immunopathology, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 415-24, 2012.
- Grigorian A., Newton B.L., Demetriou M., “Carbohydrate Recognition: Biological Problems, Methods, and Applications”, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011.
- Mkhikian H., Grigorian A., Li C.F., Chen H.L., Newton B.L., Zhou R.W., Beeton C., Torossian S., Tatarian G.G., Lee S.U., Lau K., Walker E., Siminovitch K.A., Chandy K.G., Yu Z., Dennis J.W., Demetriou M., “Genetics and the environment converge to dysregulate N-glycosylation in multiple sclerosis”, Nature Communications, vol. 2, no. 334, pp. 1-13, 2011.
- Grigorian A., Demetriou M., “Mgat5 deficiency in T cells and Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis”, ISRN Neurology, vol. 2011, pp. 374314, 2011.
- Grigorian A., Araujo L., Naidu N.N., Place D.J., Choudhury B., Demetriou M., “N-acetylglucosamine inhibits T-helper 1 (Th1)/ T-helper 17 (Th17) cell responses and treats experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis”, Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 286, no. 46, pp. 40133-41, 2011.
- Grigorian A., Demetriou M., “Manipulating cell surface glycoproteins by targeting N-glycan-galectin interactions”, Methods in Enzymology, vol. 480, pp. 245-66, 2010.
- Grigorian A., Torossian S., Demetriou M., “T cell growth, cell surface organization and the galectin-glycoprotein lattice”, Immunological Reviews, vol. 230, no. 1, pp. 232-46, 2009.
- Chen H.L., Li C.F., Grigorian A., Tian W., Demetriou M., “T cell receptor signaling co-regulates multiple Golgi genes to enhance N-glycan branching”, Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 284, no. 47, pp. 32454-61, 2009.
- Grigorian A., Lee S.U., Tian W., Chen I.J., Gao G., Mendelsohn R., Dennis J.W., Demetriou M., “Control of T cell-mediated autoimmunity by metabolite flux to N-glycan biosynthesis”, Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 282, no. 27, pp. 20027-35, 2007.
- Lee S.U., Grigorian A., Pawling J., Chen I.J., Gao G., Mozaffar T., McKerlie C., Dennis J.W., Demetriou M., “N-glycan processing deficiency promotes spontaneous inflammatory demyelination and neurodegeneration”, Journal of Biological Chemistry, vol. 282, no. 46, pp. 33725-34, 2007.
- Lau K.S., Partridge E.A., Grigorian A., Silvescu C.I., Reinhold V.N., Demetriou M., Dennis J.W., “Complex N-glycan number and degree of branching cooperate to regulate cell proliferation and differentiation”, Cell, vol. 129, no. 1, pp. 123-34, 2007.
Contact Information
Email: ani@uci.edu
Phone: (949) 824-9774
Address: 3121 Falling Leaves Foundation Medical Innovation Bldg, Irvine
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Last updated on 6/4/2026.