Jaffer Lab

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.

Publications

View all publications of the Jaffer Lab >

Group Members

Principal Investigator

Farouc Jaffer MD, PhD

• Associate Physician, Interventional Cardiology
• Medical Director, Coronary Artery Disease Program
• 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
• Chinese Scholarship Council Fellowship Recipient

Stephan Kellnberger, PhD

• Post-doctoral Fellow (2014-present)
• Research: Molecular Thermo-acoustic imaging and Intravascular NIRF-IVUS imaging (Co-advisor Vasilis Ntziachristos, PhD).
• AHA Fellowship Recipient (2017)
• 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)
• Abstract presentation, ATVB 2013, WMIC 2013, ASN 2013, ASN 2014
• 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.

Research Technician

Madeleine Grau, BS

Research Technician (2017-Present)

Clinical Research Coordinator

Patricia Giunta, BA

Clinical Research Coordinator (2018-Present)

Alumni

• Purvish Patel, BS, Graduate Student (2006-2008) Subsequent Positions: Research Scientist, Quanterix Corp.
• 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