How 010FEET was born
Through school and college, observation, cancer biology research and teaching biochemistry, Pradheep kept seeing the same five-element pattern repeating across nature, human biology and consciousness. He began to document it.
- 1976–1994
010FEET conceived
A universal five-element pattern noticed across nature, biology and consciousness, and documented as Five Elemental Energy Transformation.
- 1993
The Cleistanthin experiment
A 4 a.m. experiment with a plant extract that became a PhD and a patent.
- 1997
Diet and Cancer
First book, in Tamil, and a move to Roswell Park Cancer Institute, New York.
- 1998
Sakthi Foundation
The India Sakthi Foundation, followed by the USA Sakthi Foundation, brings the framework into health, education and community service.
- 1999
The wellness website
2,000+ pages on health, happiness, relationships, education and spirituality; over 30 million visits.
- 2003–2007
Uni5 formalised
Named Uni5 and applied to education (Uni5 Schools, 2007), health coaching, personality development and social wellness.
- 2000 – 2019
Food science in the USA
Nearly 19 years as a Senior Scientist at FoodChain ID, Iowa, developing DNA tests for GMOs, allergens and food adulteration.
- 2021
AMMAGENOMICS
An accredited laboratory of his own in Chennai, with MA Omics and OORJV for tested food.
- 2026
Harvard and 010FEET Wellness
Three HMS Executive Education certificates, and the launch of the 010FEET Wellness programme.
The family story behind the wellness
A mother's kitchen in the 1970s, hostel food in Madurai, a kitchen in Iowa and years of testing food: the personal story told in 14 short chapters.
From a toxic plant to a cancer discovery
The idea came during college. Pradheep was fascinated by how mitochondria generate energy, and wondered whether it was possible to selectively slow energy production in cancer cells. He began looking for a plant that would not kill instantly but act slowly and selectively, bringing together his love of Ayurveda and folk medicine with modern molecular biology.
In 1992 he joined Dr. G. Shanmugam's laboratory at Madurai Kamaraj University. His mind kept returning to toxic plants. After a conversation at Palani Temple with his friend Sendurai Mani about the legendary Navapashanam idol, said to be formed from nine toxic substances, Mani's grandmother pointed them to a plant known locally as “Oduvan Thalai”: Cleistanthus collinus.
“On February 3, 1993, at 4 a.m., driven by curiosity, I prepared a crude extract and tested it on cancer cell cultures. Under the microscope, I saw something unusual: a clear change in cell behaviour that no one expected.”
The discovery that almost wasn't
Pradheep didn't tell his guide straight away; seniors had dismissed the idea as a waste of resources. That evening, after a day of worry, the hostel phone rang. It was Dr. Shanmugam: “What did you add to the culture?” He had been thinking about it all day. “Repeat it and show me tomorrow.” That one phone call became a PhD.
The active compound, Cleistanthin, compared favourably in laboratory studies with the chemotherapy drugs tamoxifen and etoposide, with low toxicity to blood cells. Screening across 38 cancer cell lines at NTCC Pune supported what the midnight experiment had suggested. A Boston laboratory wanted to license it, but the process patent was not protected internationally and eventually expired.
Years later, Sendurai Mani brought in investors and formed a company with Samir Somaiya to develop the compound; Pradheep gave it its name, Sathgen Therapeutics. Thirty years after that first experiment, derivatives of Cleistanthin have moved into human clinical trials.
“Out-of-the-box thinking is often ridiculed, as I experienced since childhood. But with the right mentor and faith in the work, even the most unconventional ideas can shape reality.”
The same spirit, trusting pattern over convention, following curiosity at 4 a.m., persisting through ridicule, runs through 010FEET and Uni5. The cancer discovery and the wellness framework are not separate stories. They are one mind following one thread for thirty years.