Rakesh Sindhi, MD

Rakesh Sindhi, MD*

Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
Faculty Pavilion-6, Transplant, Room 6140
4401 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224

Liver-Related Work

Clinical and Research Interests: I am a practicing pediatric liver and intestine transplant surgeon with over two decades of training, collaborating, and publishing with several individuals who are leaders in liver transplantation. My research goals are to understand disease mechanisms with multilayered cellular, genomic, and genetic information from human subjects. To that end, my labs conduct translational work as an extension of my surgical responsibilities in liver and intestine transplant.
Ongoing Research Studies:
  • Toward understanding the complex biliary atresia pathogenesis and developing more effective management, we have evaluated available genome-wide genotyping data for 350 liver recipients including 160 BA patients. Post-GWAS investigations have included whole exome and targeted DNA and RNA sequencing of germline and somatic cells from several affected subjects.
  • Building the human sample repository on transplant patients at CHP.
  • Collaborate extensively with several colleagues engaged in management of children who experience liver transplant-related infections and children who receive transplant for liver cancer.
  • Develop relationships with biologists and geneticists engaged in the study of congenital liver disease.
  • Collaborate with Dr. Ranganathan in studying genomic aspects of liver tumors as well as in the genetics of biliary atresia and in immunology of liver transplantation.
  • Collaborate with Drs. Lo, Shin, and Gittes on animal models to explain the developmental basis of congenital liver disease using zebrafish and mouse models.
  • Identify susceptibility genes for liver disease and transplant rejection using association analysis with Dr. Dan Weeks.

 

Professor of Surgery
Co-Director of Pediatric Transplantation
Director of Pediatric Transplantation Research