Rajalingam Raja, PhD

Professor of Clinical Surgery
M_Surgery
[email protected]
+1 415 476-0647

Dr. Raja has over 30 years of experience in studying the basic and clinical aspects of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics. During the Ph.D. program in the Department of Transplantation Immunology and Immunogenetics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr. Raja developed DNA-based HLA typing method and studied the diversity of HLA in Asian Indians, and the association between HLA alleles and infectious diseases. During 6 years of postdoctoral training in the Parham laboratory, Stanford University, Dr. Raja defined the KIR genomic diversity in several non-human species. In 2002, Dr. Raja joined as Associate Director of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Immunogenetics Center, which provides clinical histocompatibility testing. After 11 years of UCLA experience, Dr. Raja became the program director of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Immunogenetics and Transplantation Laboratory (ITL), which facilitates over 800 solid organ and bone marrow transplantations per year. As the CLIA-approved Laboratory Director, Clinical Consultant and Technical Supervisor, Dr. Raja provides leadership to all areas of clinical Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics testing including stem cell transplantation, various solid organ transplantations (kidney, pancreas, liver, heart, lung), testing for HLA-associated diseases, and testing for transfusion services. Dr. Raja's current research is focused on understanding the KIR-HLA genomic differences in human populations and their relevance in therapeutic transplantations and disease association. Dr. Raja involves in teaching and training in histocompatibility, immunogenetics and transplant immunology, and mentors post-doctoral research fellows, residents, and visiting scholars.

Publications

A scan of pleiotropic immune mediated disease genes identifies novel determinants of baseline FVIII inhibitor status in hemophilia A.

Genes and immunity

Almeida MA, Diego VP, Viel KR, Luu BW, Haack K, Raja R, Ameri A, Chitlur M, Rydz N, Lillicrap D, Watts RG, Kessler CM, Ramsey C, Dinh LV, Kim B, Powell JS, Manusov EG, Peralta JM, Bouls R, Abraham SM, Shen YM, Murillo CM, Mead H, Lehmann PV, Fine EJ, Escobar MA, Kumar S, Konkle BA, Williams-Blangero S, Kasper CK, Almasy L, Cole SA, Blangero J, Howard TE