The Jaffer Lab is developing new approaches to image high-risk plaques (narrowings, blockages) that cause myocardial infarction (heart attacks), which could ultimately help prevent heart attacks from occurring.
The laboratory of Farouc Jaffer, MD, PhD, in the Cardiovascular Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital is developing bench-to-bedside approaches to image and understand in vivo inflammation and thrombogenesis in vascular disease, including atherosclerosis, venous thrombosis, and arteriovenous fistula.
Through close collaborations with molecular imaging chemistry experts, we have developed an array of molecular imaging agents to report on macrophages, fibrin, cathepsin K, VCAM-1, thrombin, and activated factor XIII. Using intravital microscopy, FMT, MRI or PET-CT, we have imaged and quantified these molecular targets in murine models of vascular disease, which have led to new insights into how atheroma, thrombi, and AVF evolve and resolve.
Our major translational efforts focus on developing intravascular near-infrared fluorescence molecular imaging catheter technology to image inflammation in human coronary arteries and coronary stents, using large animal models. In conjunction with world-leading engineering groups, we have developed intravascular NIRF-OCT and NIRF-IVUS catheters and systems. The ability to image inflammation at high-resolution could provide new approaches to identify high-risk plaques and high-risk stents.
Our clinical research efforts focus on improving percutaneous coronary intervention success for chronic total occlusions, radial artery catheterization, and improving the treatment of microvascular coronary disease and microvascular angina.
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Jaffer graduated from Stanford University (1990, BS with distinction in Mathematical and Computational Sciences) and received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Biophysics from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1996. He was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-NIH Research Scholar from 1993-1995. Dr. Jaffer completed a residency in internal medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (1999) and went on to a fellowship in Cardiovascular Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (1999-2001). Dr. Jaffer completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Center for Molecular Imaging Research at MGH, directed by Professor Ralph Weissleder, M.D. Ph.D. followed by a fellowship year in Interventional Cardiology. In 2003, Dr. Jaffer joined the MGH Cardiology Division as a faculty member. In 2006, he was promoted to Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. In 2007, Dr. Jaffer was appointed as a Principal Investigator in the Cardiovascular Research Center at MGH. In 2011, he became an affiliated Faculty Member in the MGH Wellman Center for Photomedicine. In 2012, he was promoted to Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. In 2013, he was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Ryutaro Ikegami, MD, PhD
Post-doctoral Fellow (2019-present)
Research: Molecular imaging of atherosclerosis and mechanisms of plaque vulnerability
Recipient Niigata study abroad scholarship
Publication: Cell Reports, Circulation Journal, Internal Medicine
Mazen Albaghdadi, MD, MSc
Post-Doctoral Fellow (2017-present)
Research: Molecular imaging of inflammation in cardiovascular disease and medical device development.
Recipient NIH T32 Postdoctoral fellowship (2018)
Recipient AHA (2019)
Wenzhu Li, MD
Post-doctoral Fellow (2016-present)
Research: Molecular imaging of venous thrombosis resolution and mechanisms of fibrinolysis.
National Nature Science Foundation of China for Young Scholar
Feodor Lynen Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Recipient (2014-2016)
Papers published in Physical Review Letters, Nature – Scientific Reports, Optics Letters, Applied Physics Letters, and Physics in Medicine and Biology
Eric Osborn, MD, Phd
Post-doctoral Fellow; Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School (2013-present)
Research: Molecular imaging of atherosclerosis and stent injury.
Recipient NIH T32 Postdoctoral fellowship (2013)
Recipient Harvard Catalyst KL2 Award (2013-2015)
NIH Loan Repayment Recipient (2014-2016)
Papers published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging (3), European Heart Journal: Cardiovascular Imaging, Current Atherosclerosis Reports, and the International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging
Two manuscripts in preparation
Jie Cui, MD
Post-doctoral Fellow; Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School (2014-present)
Research: Imaging of inflammation and thrombosis in arteriovenous fistula.
Recipient George B. Rathmann Research Fellowship, American Society of Nephrology (2013-2015)
1 manuscript published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology
Lab Manager
Adam Mauskapf, BS
Lab Manager (2008-Present) Adam Mauskapf has been the lab manager for the Jaffer Lab since 2012, and has been with the lab since 2008. He graduated from Bucknell University in 2007. He helps to run the large and small animal research labs and is the research surgeon for the large animal lab. Adam helps to manage the lab, set up surgery schedules, and do many other technical tasks. He has experience in catheterization techniques, micro- and macro-surgery, animal care, anesthesia monitoring, and other aspects of animal research.
Kiyuk Chang, MD, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2007-2009) Subsequent Positions: Associate Professor of Medicine, Catholic University, Seoul, Korea
Ion Botnaru, MD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2008-2010) Subsequent Positions: Cardiologist, Olympia, Washington
Amit Saxena, PhD, Post-doctoral fellow (2008-2010)
Neha Jakete, BS, Graduate Student (2009)
Georgios Mallas, PhD, Graduate Student (2009-2012) Subsequent Positions: Senior Algorithms Engineer, Draeger Medical (2012-2016); Senior Control Systems Engineer, ThinKom Solutions (2016-2018); Data Science and Algorithms Manager, Medtronic Diabetes, Los Angeles
Crystal Ripplinger, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow(2009-2010) Subsequent Positions: Associate Professor and Vice Chair for Research & Administration, Dept. of Pharmacology, University of California, Davis
Amir Rosenthal, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2009-2010) Subsequent Positions: Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Marcella Calfon Press, MD, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2009-2012) Subsequent Positions: Assistant Professor in Dept. of Medicine, Division of Cardiology at RR UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles
Jin Won Kim, MD, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2009-2011) Subsequent Positions: Associate Professor of Medicine, Guro University, Seoul, Korea
William Hucker, MD, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2010-2012) Subsequent Positions: Assistant Professor in Medicine, Electrophysiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Instructor, Harvard Medical School
Tetsuya Hara, MD PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2010-2014) Subsequent Positions: Assistant Professor, Kobe University, Japan
Brian Thompson, PhD, Research Technician (2010-2011)
Yair Mega, MSc, Graduate Student (2011-2012)
Thomas Jetzfellner, PhD, Graduate Student (2011-2012) Subsequent Positions: IP/Patent Counsel, Siemens AG
Amr El Maghraby, MD, Pre-residency Fellow (2011-2013) Subsequent Positions: Post-Doctoral Clinical Fellowship in the Neuro-Critical Care Program at the University of Miami, Florida
Ashley Stein-Merlob, MD, PhD, Medical Student, Harvard Medical School – HST program (2011-2015) Subsequent Positions: Resident, Internal Medicine, UCSF, STAR Fellow, Cardiology, UCLA
Jorge Zelada Castro, MD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2012-2013) Subsequent Positions: Clinical Endocrinology Fellow, Washington University/Barnes Jewish Hospital, St Louis
Johan Verjans, MD, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2012-2013) Subsequent Positions: Cardiologist, SAHMRI. Deputy Director, Medical Learning at Australian Institute for Machine Learning, Adelaide, Australia
Victor Guanming Qi, MD, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2015-2017) Subsequent Positions: Post-doctoral Fellow, Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Tufts Medical Center, Boston
Harkamal Jhajj, BS, Research Technician (2015-2017) Subsequent Positions: PhD Student, University of Michigan
Lang Wang, MD, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2016-2017) Subsequent Positions: Assistant Professor, Department of Cardiology, Wuhan University
Makoto Orii, MD, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2016-2018) Subsequent Positions: Assistant Professor of Radiology, Iwate Medical University, Japan
Mohammed Chowdhury, MB, ChB, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2017-2018) Subsequent Positions: Vascular Surgery Registrar and Research Fellow, University of Cambridge Hospital, UK
Chase Kessinger, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow; Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School (2009-2018) Subsequent Positions: Instructor of Cardiovascular Medicine, Imaging Core Director, Masonic Medical Research Institute
Daqing Li, MD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2017-2018) Subsequent Positions: Chief Physician, Cardiology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan, China
Xiaoxin Zheng, MD, PhD, Post-doctoral Fellow (2017-2019) Subsequent Positions: Associate Chief Physician, Cardiology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University; Cardiovascular Research Institute of Wuhan University; Hubei Key Laboratory of Cardiology, China
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