Research Vision:

My research focuses on leveraging mass cytometry and highly multiplexed epitope imaging technology to deeply interrogate the immune mechanisms contributing to acceptance and rejection of porcine islet transplants in nonhuman primates (NHPs). The long-term goal of our preclinical project is to develop a donor antigen-specific immune modulation protocol that is clinically translatable for tolerance induction to cell and organ transplants from human and porcine donors. I work closely with Drs. Ikramuddin, Graham, and Ramachandran to understand the impact of vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) on immune modulation of adipose tissue in a novel translational NHPs model.

Research Areas:

• Cellular mechanism of immune tolerance

• Tracking and high dimensional mapping of allospecific (peptide MHC tetramers) Tregs and TEM cells in islet and kidney transplant NHPs

• Immune biology of adipose tissue

Research Publications:

1. Singh A, Ramachandran S, Graham ML, Daneshmandi S, Heller D, Suarez-Pinzon WL, Balamurugan AN, Ansite JD, Wilhelm JJ, Yang A, Zhang Y, Palani NP, Abrahante JE, Burlak C, Miller SD, Luo X, Hering BJ. Long-term tolerance of islet allografts in nonhuman primates induced by apoptotic donor leukocytes. Nat Commun. 2019 Aug 2;10(1):3495. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11338-y. PMID: 31375697; PMCID: PMC6677762.

2. Rao JS, Hosny N, Kumbha R, Naqvi RA, Singh A, Swanson Z, Levy H, Matson AW, Steinhoff M, Forneris N, Walters E, Hering BJ, Burlak C. HLA-G1⁺ Expression in GGTA1KO Pigs Suppresses Human and Monkey Anti-Pig T, B and NK Cell Responses. Front Immunol. 2021 Sep 9;12:730545. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.730545. PMID: 34566993; PMCID: PMC8459615.

3. Graham ML, Ramachandran S, Singh A, Moore MEG, Flanagan EB, Azimzadeh A, Burlak C, Mueller KR, Martins K, Anazawa T, Appakalai BN, Bansal-Pakala P, Murtaugh MP, O'Brien TD, Papas KK, Spizzo T, Schuurman HJ, Hancock WW, Hering BJ. Clinically available immunosuppression averts rejection but not systemic inflammation after porcine islet xenotransplant in cynomolgus macaques. Am J Transplant. 2021 Oct 27. doi: 10.1111/ajt.16876. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34704345.

4. Kang HK, Wang S, Dangi A, Zhang X, Singh A, Zhang L, Rosati JM, Suarez-Pinzon W, Deng X, Chen X, Thorp EB, Hering BJ, Miller SD, Luo X. Differential Role of B Cells and IL-17 Versus IFN-γ During Early and Late Rejection of Pig Islet Xenografts in Mice. Transplantation. 2017 Aug;101(8):1801-1810. doi: 10.1097/TP.0000000000001489. PMID: 27893617; PMCID: PMC5441974.

5. Nugent JL, Singh A, Wirth KM, Oppler SH, Hocum Stone L, Janecek JL, Sheka AC, Kizy S, Moore MEG, Staley C, Hering BJ, Ramachandran S, Ikramuddin S, Graham ML. A nonhuman primate model of vertical sleeve gastrectomy facilitates mechanistic and translational research in human obesity. iScience. 2021 Nov 10;24(12):103421. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103421. PMID: 34877488; PMCID: PMC8633018.