Heeger Lab
While transplantation is the best therapy for end-stage organ failure, current outcomes following organ transplantation are not optimal, and immunosuppressive medications required to prevent rejection of the transplanted organ negatively impact patients’ health and wellbeing. Building upon basic mechanistic insights from preclinical models, our work leverages risk-stratifying biomarkers and novel therapeutic approaches to improve survival and function of the transplanted organ, reduce medication-related morbidities and promote patient health.
Personal Statement
The long-term goal of my research program is to transform the field of organ transplantation through development of biomarker-guided treatment approaches, individualized to each patient, that limit injury to the transplanted organ while promoting protective immune regulation and regenerative tissue repair—together resulting in long-term graft survival and function.
Peter S. Heeger, MD
Breakthrough Research
Preclinical and translational human studies performed by our group identify novel mechanisms linking the complement system to T-cell and B-cell immune responses, and identify new therapeutic targets for prevention and treatment of immune-mediated diseases, including transplant rejection.
Our research team is leading multiple NIH-funded clinical trials in kidney, heart or lung transplant recipients in which we test novel therapies, in part guided by proteomic and transcriptomic biomarker results, to improve graft survival and patient health. For each clinical trial, we perform state-of-the-art analyses of peripheral blood immune cells and graft tissue to determine the mechanisms underlying the various clinical outcomes.
Publications
Learn more about the recent research publications from the Heeger Lab.
Laboratory Team
Learn more about the Heeger Laboratory team, whose dedicated efforts lead to groundbreaking discoveries.
Job Opportunities
We are actively recruiting talented individuals to join our laboratory, bringing their expertise to make important breakthroughs.
Collaborations
Our research is cross-disciplinary and involves close collaborations with Cedars-Sinai colleagues in the Nephrology, Pulmonary and Rheumatology Divisions of the Department of Medicine, as well as with the Smidt Heart Institute, the Department of Surgery and the Department of Biomedical Sciences. Outside collaborations focus on transplantation across the U.S. and Canada.
- Joren Madsen, MD, DPhil, Massachusetts General Hospital
- Christian Larsen, MD, PhD, Emory University School of Medicine
- Marlena Habal, MD, NYU School of Medicine
- Paolo Cravedi, MD, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Miguel Fribourg, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Nicholas Chun, MD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- David Dominguez-Sola, MD, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Amir Horowitz, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
- Peter Nickerson, MD, University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Contact the Heeger Lab
Steven Spielberg Building
8723 Alden Dr., Room 322
Los Angeles, CA 90048