Associate Professor - HLA Laboratory Director
Baylor College of Medicine
Peter T. Jindra, PhD, F(ACHI) is an Associate Professor and HLA Laboratory Director in the DeBakey Department of Surgery, Division of Abdominal Transplantation, Baylor College of Medicine.
He consults on cases of antibody mediate rejection and provide recommendations for additional testing in cases which non-anti-HLA antibodies are thought to be involved in the rejection process. He enjoys teaching clinical fellows, nurses, technologists immunology and basic histocompatibility principals. From these experiences he has attained the ability to be an effective communicator and lead the laboratory focused on clinical and research goals within a structured time frame. Additionally, as an HLA Laboratory he has experience in storing patient sera pre and post transplant and donor DNA over many years which provides an unparallel resource to study HLA and non-HLA mechanisms leading to graft rejection. Using our resources in collaboration with clinical data will lead to discoveries that will enhance transplant diagnostics and impact patient care. We use this data to guide our clinical practices and add testing that provides great diagnostic value.
In terms, of research, one of the main focuses he has concentrated on is identifying genetic variants as biomarkers, which may result in an altered immune response. Personalized medicine requires an acute understanding of how our genes effect the development and progression of disease. To determine the importance of genetic variants, we demonstrated single nucleotide polymorphisms in costimulatory genes can affect the outcomes human stem cell transplant. Additional biomarkers of aging provide additional insights into how cells in the donor organ will function post transplant and provide a revision to current chronologic age structures which can be more personalized by exploring cellular age.