My work at the University of Notre Dame is principally supported through the John J. Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values. I received various additional travel grants and research grants that are listed in my CV.
During my clinical training in anatomic pathology I was a fellow of the clinician-scientist program run by the Berlin Institute of Health. My work at Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School was funded by a postdoctoral fellowship from the German Research Foundation (DFG). Prior to that, I received dissertation stipends from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Charité Foundation.
This support has allowed me to complete wet-lab research projects across a number of immunological subdisciplines at Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, where I also held a postdoctoral position. My clinical research has sought to establish ML-guided molecular analysis of kidney transplant biopsies. During my training in anatomic pathology, I also worked for a Berlin-based health tech start-up that is moving AI-based image recognition into diagnostic histopathology.
In addition to degree distinctions, I received the 2017 Mentee-Mentor Award from The Transplantation Society for my research done under the direction of Stefan G. Tullius. In 2021, I was shortlisted for a Juniorprofessur in Translational Molecular Oncology at Charité Medical School, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
History and philosophy of science and medicine
The Pragmatist Roots of Scientific Medicine: Reassessing the Flexner Report. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science (forthcoming).
From Johann to Maurice: Science and Expression in the Philosophical Praxis of Medicine. Human Studies. 2021; 44:559-579.
Greek Patristics and ancient philosophy
Origen’s Christian Epistēmē in De Principiis: Exegesis as Ktisis. Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies. 2022;5(1):23–46.
Mimetic Perfection: St Gregory of Nyssa’s Poetry of the Self. St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly. 2020;64(3-4):97-128.
Experimental wet-lab projects in immunology (as first or co-first author)
Quante M, Iske J, Heinbokel T*, Desai B, Rodriguez H, Nian Y, Krenzien F, Matsunaga T, Uehara H, Pratschke J, Falk CS, Lo T, Sheu E, Tavakkoli A, Abdi R, Perkins D, Alegre ML, Banks AS, Zhou H, Elkhal A, Tullius SG. (*co-first author)
Restored Taurodeoxycholic Acid and Valine Levels Imitate the Effects of Bariatric Surgery.
eLife. 2021;10:e62928.Heinbokel T*, Quante M, Iske J, Nian Y, Edtinger K, Maenosono R, Minami K, Liu Y, Azuma H, Elkhal A, Tullius SG. (*co-first author)
CTLA4-Ig prolongs graft survival specifically in young but not old recipients.
Am J Transplant. 2021;21(2):488-502.Seyda M, Iske J, Heinbokel T*, Minami K, Nian Y, Maeonosono R, Minami K, Nian Y, Quante M, Falk CS, Azuma H, Martin F, Passos JF, Niemann CU, Tchkonia T, Kirkland JL, Elkhal A, Tullius SG. (*co-first author)
Senolytics prevent mt-DNA-induced inflammation and promote organ transplant survival.
Nat Commun. 2020;11(1):4289.Quante M, Heinbokel T*, Edtinger K, Minami K, Uehara H, Nian Y, Azuma H, Abdi R, Elkhal A, Tullius SG. (*co-first author)
CD4+IFN-γ+IL-10+ regulatory type 1 cells facilitate prolongation of graft survival in old recipient mice treated with Rapamycin.
Transplantation. 2018;102(1):59-69.Rodriguez H, Heinbokel T*, Uehara H, Camacho V, Koduru S, El Fatimy R, Ghiran I, Trachtenberg AJ, de la Fuente MA, Azuma H, Akbari O, Tullius SG, Vasudevan A, Elkhal A. (*co-first author)
Mast cells regulate CD4+ T cell differentiation in absence of antigen presentation.
J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2018;142(6):1894-1908.e7.Krenzien, F, Quante M, Heinbokel T*, Seyda M, Minami K, Uehara H, Biefer HRC, Schuitenmaker JM, Gabardi S, Splith K, Schmelzle M, Petrides AK, Azuma H, Pratschke J, Li XC, Elkhal A, Tullius SG. (*co-first author)
Age-Dependent Metabolic and Immunosuppressive Effects of Tacrolimus.
Am J Transplant. 2017;17(5):1242–1254.Oberhuber R, Heinbokel T*, Cetina Biefer HR, Boenisch O, Hock K, Bronson RT, Wilhelm MJ, Iwakura Y, Edtinger K, Uehara H, Quante M, Voskuil F, Krenzien F, Slegtenhorst B, Abdi R, Pratschke J, Elkhal A, Tullius SG. (*co-first author)
CD11c+ Dendritic Cells Accelerate the Rejection of Older Cardiac Transplants via Interleukin-17A.
Circulation. 2015;132(2):122-131.
Experimental wet-lab projects in immunology (as co-author)
Sanad AM, Qadri F, Popova E, Rodrigues AF, Heinbokel T, Quach S, Schulz A, Bachmann S, Kreutz R, Alenina N, Bader M.
Transgenic angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 overexpression in the rat vasculature protects kidneys from ageing-induced injury.
Kidney Int. 2023;104(2):293-304.Nian Y, Iske J, Maenosono R, Minami K, Heinbokel T, Quante M, Liu Y, Azuma H, Yang J, Abdi R, Zhou H, Elkhal A, Tullius SG.
Targeting age-specific changes in CD4+ T cell metabolism ameliorates alloimmune responses and prolongs graft survival.
Aging Cell. 2021;20(2):e13299.Elkhal A, Rodriguez H, Heinbokel T, Uehara H, Quante M, Seyda M, Schuitenmaker, JM, Krenzien F, Camacho V, de la Fuente MA, Ghiran Ionita, Tullius SG.
NAD+ regulates Treg cell fate and promotes allograft survival via a systemic IL-10 production that is CD4+ CD25+ Foxp3+ T cells independent.
Sci Rep. 2016; 6:22325.
Clinical research
Halloran P, Madill-Thomsen KS, Pon S, Sikosana MLN, Böhmig GA, Bromberg J, Einecke G, Eskandary F, Gupta G, Hidalgo LG, Myslak M, Viklicky O, Perkowska-Ptasinska A, and the INTERCOMEX Investigators.
Molecular diagnosis of ABMR with or without donor-specific antibody in kidney transplant biopsies: Differences in timing and intensity but similar mechanisms and outcomes.
Am J Transplant. 2022;22(8):1976-1991.Madill-Thomsen KS, Böhmig GA, Bromberg J, Einecke G, Eskandary F, Gupta G, Hidalgo LG, Myslak M, Viklicky O, Perkowska-Ptasinska A, Halloran P, and the INTERCOMEX Investigators.
Donor-Specific Antibody Is Associated with Increased Expression of Rejection Transcripts in Renal Transplant Biopsies Classified as No Rejection.
J Am Soc Nephrol. 2021;32(11):2743-2758.Halloran PF, Böhmig GA, Bromberg JS, Budde K, Gupta G, Einecke G, Eskandary F, Madill-Thomsen K, Reeve J, and the INTERCOMEX investigators.
Discovering novel injury features in kidney transplant biopsies associated with TCMR and donor aging.
Am J Transplant. 2021;21(5):1725-1739.Einecke G, Reeve J, Gupta G, Böhmig G, Eskandary F, Bromberg J, Budde K, Halloran PF, and the INTERCOMEX investigators.
Factors associated with kidney graft survival in pure antibody-mediated rejection at the time of indication biopsy: Importance of parenchymal injury but not disease activity.
Am J Transplant. 2021;21(4):1391-1401.Reeve J, Böhmig GA, Eskandary F, Einecke G, Gupta G, Madill-Thomsen K, Mackova M, Halloran PF, and the INTERCOMEX MMDx-Kidney Study Group.
Generating automated kidney transplant biopsy reports combining molecular measurements with ensembles of machine learning classifiers.
Am J Transplant. 2019;19:2719–2731.Linneweber J, Heinbokel T, Christ T, Claus B, Kossagk K, Konertz W.
Clinical experience with the ATS 3F stentless aortic bioprosthesis: five years' follow up.
J Heart Valve Dis. 2010 Nov;19(6):772-7.
Reviews, correspondence
Heinbokel T, Elkhal A, Liu G, Edtinger K, Tullius SG.
Immunosenescence and organ transplantation.
Transplant Rev. 2013; 27(3): 65–75. IF 2013: 2.675Heinbokel T*, Floerchinger B, Schmiderer A, Edtinger K, Liu G, Elkhal A, Tullius SG.(*co-first author)
Obesity and its impact on transplantation and alloimmunity.
Transplantation. 2013; 96(1): 10–6.Heinbokel T, Hock K, Liu G, Edtinger K, Elkhal A, Tullius SG.
Impact of immunosenescence on transplant outcome.
Transpl Int. 2013; 26(3): 242–53.
Chapters in textbooks
Heinbokel T, Budde K, Halleck F, Liefeldt L.
Living Kidney Donation.
In Keller F (Ed.), Manuale nephrologicum. Dustri Publishing; 2017.Oberhuber R, Heinbokel T, Khalpey Z, Malek S, Tullius SG.
Techniques for Organ Procurement after Brain Death.
In Kirk AD, Knechtle SJ, Larsen CP, Pearson TC (Eds.), Textbook of Organ Transplantation. John Wiley & Sons; 2014.Oberhuber R, Liu G, Heinbokel T, Tullius SG.
Emerging issues in transplantation.
In Li X, Jevnikar T (Eds.), Textbook of Transplant Immunology. John Wiley & Sons; 2014.
Dissertations
Gregory's Macrina and Plato's Socrates: Text–Cosmos–Anthropos. Dissertation (Ph.D., Divinity — University of Aberdeen, 2024). Advisor: John Behr; Internal Examiner: Tom Greggs; External Examiner: Andrew Louth.
Impact of immunosenescence and donor age on alloimmunity and transplant outcome. Dissertation (Dr. med. — Charité Medical School, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2015). Advisor: Hans-Dieter Volk; External Examiners: Ingeborg A. Hauser, Stefan G. Tullius.
