University of Pennsylvania · BiologyThe HLA Connect Lab
Malek Kamoun · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Research Focus
Dr. Malek Kamoun's lab at the University of Pennsylvania focuses on improving kidney transplant outcomes by studying HLA immunogenetics. They investigate how variations in HLA proteins affect the body’s immune response to transplanted kidneys. By utilizing advanced machine learning techniques and extensive genetic data, the lab aims to refine donor-recipient matching and optimize immunosuppressive therapies, ultimately enhancing the success rates of kidney transplants.
kidney transplantationHLA immunogeneticsalloimmune responsegraft failuremachine learninggenetic polymorphismdonor-recipient matchingimmunosuppressiontransplant outcomes
Research Aims
5AIM 01Investigate the impact of HLA amino acid mismatches on kidney allograft outcomes.
AIM 02Determine the most important HLA loci for transplantation matching.
AIM 03Explore associations of specific amino acid motifs with graft failure risk.
AIM 04Utilize machine learning to optimize groupings of amino acid mismatches.
AIM 05Develop tools to guide immunosuppression strategies based on genetic risk factors.
Skills the Lab Values
high-resolution HLA typingmachine learningdata imputationmolecular geneticsclinical cohort studiesstatistical data analysispatient risk stratificationdata integrationbioinformatics
Output against the department
Publications266top 22% of dept.230th of 1,033
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations7.4ktop 50% of dept.513th of 1,033
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.