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Rajalingam Raja, PhD, F(ACHI), FRCP

Rajalingam Raja, PhD, F(ACHI), FRCP

  • Professor of Surgery
  • Director, Immunogenetics and Transplantation Laboratory

Contact Information

UCSF Immunogenetics and Transplantation Laboratory
University of California San Francisco
1100 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 800
San Francisco, CA 94109
415-476-3883 Phone
415-476-0379 Fax 
[email protected]
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Education

University of Madras, India. B.Sc., 1984

Bharathiyar University, India. M.Sc., 1988

University of Madras, India. M.Phil., 1989

All India Institute of Medical Sciences, India. Ph.D., 1996

Postdoctoral Training

  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University, Stanford 1997-2002

Biography

Dr. Rajalingam Raja serves as the Laboratory Director, Clinical Consultant and Technical Supervisor for the UCSF Immunogenetics and Transplantation Laboratory. Dr. Raja received his Ph.D. from the Department of Transplant Immunology and Immunogenetics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. Six-years of pre-doctoral studies in HLA diversity, followed by six-years of post-doctoral research in NK cell immunogenetics at Stanford, plus eighteen-years of experience in clinical histocompatibility laboratory directorship in the high volume transplant centers at UCLA and UCSF have shaped Dr. Raja into one of the uniquely experienced investigators committed to the fields of histocompatibility, immunogenetics and transplant immunology.

Awards & Honors

  Award  
  Confired By    
  Date    
  • Prof. NK Mehra Oration Award 2016
  • Indian Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ISHI)
  • 2016
  • Certificate of Qualification, Histocompatibility Laboratory Director
  • New York State Department of Health
  • 2012
  • Histocompatibility Laboratory Director
  • Department of Public Health, State of California
  • 2009
  • Clinical Immunology Training Award
  • FIMSA & IUIS
  • 1996
  • Clinical Immunology Training Award
  • Federal of Immunological Societies of Asia-Oceania/International Union of Immunological Societies
  • 1996
  • Shakuntala Amir Chand prize for the best Ph.D. thesis in Biomedical Sciences in India
  • Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
  • 1996
  • University First Rank in post-graduation (M.Sc.: Zoology, Biochemicstry, Molecular Biology)
  • Bharathiyar University, Coimbatore, India
  • 1988

    • Research Overview

    Natural killer (NK) have been implicated in control and clearance of malignant and virally infected cells, regulation of adaptive immune responses, rejection of bone marrow transplants, autoimmunity and the maintenance of pregnancy. Human NK cells largely use a family of Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA)-specific Killer cell Immunoglobulin-like Receptors (KIR) to recognize and respond to the unhealthy target cells. KIR and HLA loci are both polygenic and substantially polymorphic, and they map to distinct human chromosomes (Chromosomes 19 and 6, respectively).

    KIR and HLA gene families segregate independently, yielding many individuals who express KIR receptors for which they lack HLA class I ligands, and vice versa, thus creating human diversity in the number and type of KIR-HLA inherited gene pairs, which potentially could influence the health and disease status of a given individual. The overall goal of our research is to understand the diversity of KIR receptors, HLA ligands, and KIR-HLA gene combinations in populations and their relevance in human health and disease.

    Publications

    MOST RECENT PUBLICATIONS FROM A TOTAL OF 102
    Data provided by UCSF Profiles, powered by CTSI
    1. Howard T, Almieda M, Diego V, Viel K, Luu B, Haack K, Raja R, Ameri A, Chitlur M, Rydz N, Lillicrap D, Watts R, Kessler C, Ramsey C, Dinh L, Kim B, Powell J, Peralta J, Bouls R, Abraham S, Shen YM, Murillo C, Mead H, Lehmann P, Fine E, Escobar M, Kumar S, Williams-Blangero S, Kasper C, Almasy L, Cole S, Blangero J, Konkle B. A Scan of Pleiotropic Immune Mediated Disease Genes Identifies Novel Determinants of Baseline FVIII Inhibitor Status in Hemophilia-A. Res Sq. 2023 Oct 18. View in PubMed
    2. Roll GR, Bray RA, Cooper M, Eagar TN, Gebel HM, Vranic GM, Hitchman KMK, Houp J, Kamoun M, Killian J, Kim J, Kumar V, Levine M, Lovasik BP, Lunow-Luke T, Parsons RF, Pattanayak V, Ranch D, Shah A, Stock PG, Timofeeva OA, Trofe-Clark J, Wongjirad C, Yeh H, Yi S, Rajalingam R. COVID-19 infection and vaccination rarely impact HLA antibody profile in waitlisted renal transplant candidates- a multicenter cohort. Hum Immunol. 2023 Apr; 84(4):278-285. View in PubMed
    3. Raghav PK, Raghav A, Lathwal A, Saxena A, Mann Z, Sengar M, Rajalingam R. Experimental and clinical data analysis for identification of COVID-19 resistant ACE2 mutations. Sci Rep. 2023 02 09; 13(1):2351. View in PubMed
    4. Duan M, Nguyen DC, Joyner CJ, Saney CL, Tipton CM, Andrews J, Lonial S, Kim C, Hentenaar I, Kosters A, Ghosn E, Jackson A, Knechtle S, Maruthamuthu S, Chandran S, Martin T, Rajalingam R, Vincenti F, Breeden C, Sanz I, Gibson G, Eun-Hyung Lee F. Human Bone Marrow Plasma Cell Atlas: Maturation and Survival Pathways Unraveled by Single Cell Analyses. bioRxiv. 2023 Jan 20. View in PubMed
    5. Calabrese DR, Chong T, Singer JP, Rajalingam R, Hays SR, Kukreja J, Leard L, Golden JA, Lanier LL, Greenland JR. CD16+ natural killer cells in bronchoalveolar lavage are associated with antibody-mediated rejection and chronic lung allograft dysfunction. Am J Transplant. 2023 01; 23(1):37-44. View in PubMed
    6. View All Publications

    Videos

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    1. The virtual crossmatch
    2. • Virtual crossmatch: Is virtual better than real?

     

     
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