Aiming to Improve the Experience of Organ Transplant

What biomedical issue did you address in your research, and what did your studies find?

One of the biggest risks for patients who receive heart transplants is the possibility that their bodies' immune systems may reject the new organ. When I joined Dr. Griffiths' lab, I was surprised to learn that for months after a transplant, patients undergo repeated and invasive heart biopsies to monitor for rejection. They face additional risks because immunosuppressive drugs that reduce rejection also heighten the possibility of infection and cancer. I became interested in exploring less invasive transplant monitoring and a means to guide individualized, risk-based drug therapy.

My Ph.D. research focused on expanding what's known about the proteins — specifically, antigens — that activate patients' immune systems and on studying how antibodies toward these antigens are involved in organ rejection. Rejection involves a protein, human leukocyte antigen, or HLA, that enables the immune system to identify foreign tissue. While antibodies against HLA are known to increase the risk of rejection, patients who lack anti-HLA antibodies also experience organ rejection. My research aimed to identify the non-HLA factors that may play a role in rejection and to investigate how antibodies against non-HLA antigens may damage the graft.

Using our lab's patented antigen identification approach, my research found previously unknown non-HLA antigens in heart transplant patients experiencing rejection. Further, we showed that antibodies against non-HLA antigens have the potential to damage graft cells. These findings lay the groundwork to advance the study of non-HLA antigens and their impact on heart allograft survival. Ultimately, the work may point to a less invasive method for the early detection of transplant rejection and tailored immunotherapy based on patient risk.

What opportunities at Mayo Clinic did you take advantage of to further your leadership skills and personal growth?

Becoming a scientist is one part of the Ph.D. experience, but the other part is developing as a global citizen and member of society. Several groups at Mayo resonated with my values and interests. I participated and led initiatives in the Student Life and Wellness Committee, Initiative for Medical Equipment Sustainability, Women in Science and Engineering, Greater Leadership Opportunities for Women, and the Tempest (the arts publication for the Dolores Jean Lavins Center for Humanities in Medicine). All of these allowed me to maintain a healthy, holistic balance of social and community engagement alongside my research.

What's next?

I am grateful to the brilliant scientists and wonderful individuals I have met at Mayo who have engaged with me and invested in my graduate school journey. As I continue to explore immunology and translational research, my next step will be a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine, studying the role of human pathogenic antibodies in autoimmune conditions that affect the nervous system. I aspire to lead a research and development program in biotech while also teaching at a university to pay it forward to the next generation pursuing STEM.