James R. Heath, PhD

President & Professor

Jim Heath

Dr. James R. Heath is President and Professor at Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle. Heath also has Affiliate Faculty appointments at the University of Washington Bioengineering, Physics and Chemistry departments. Formerly, he was the Elizabeth W. Gilloon Professor of Chemistry at Caltech, Professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at UCLA, and served as co-director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at UCLA.

Heath has had a profound impact on ISB since taking over leadership in 2018. He continues to make important discoveries in the field of cancer immunotherapy, and in 2022 was selected to lead a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center to study sequential targeted inhibitors and immunotherapies.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Heath quickly pivoted the focus of his lab and collaboratively worked with others within and beyond ISB to uncover secrets behind COVID-19 and long COVID. He published research that has changed how COVID-19 and long COVID is understood, and leads the Pacific Northwest consortium of the NIH-funded RECOVER study, which aims to understand the long-term effects of COVID.

Heath received his PhD in 1988 from Rice University, where he was the principal graduate student involved in the discovery of C60 and the fullerenes. He was a Miller Fellow at UC Berkeley before joining the research staff at IBM Watson Labs in 1991. He took a faculty position at UCLA in 1994, and moved to Caltech in 2003.

He has received several awards and honors, including the Irving Weinstein Award from the American Association of Cancer Researchers, and the Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences. In 2009, he was named one of the top seven innovators in the world by Forbes Magazine.

Heath has founded or co-founded several companies, including BioAnalytica, PACT Pharma (acquired by AmplifyBio in 2023), Integrated Diagnostics (acquired by Biodesix in 2018), Indi Molecular (acquired by Regeneron in 2022), CTI Molecular Imaging (acquired by Siemens in 2005), Sofie Biosciences, Isoplexis (acquired by Berkeley Lights in 2023), and NanoSys (acquired by Shoei in 2023).

2018-
President and Professor, Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle

2003-2018  
Elizabeth W. Gilloon Professor & Professor of Chemistry, Caltech

2001-  
Professor of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology, UCLA Health Sciences Center

1997-2002    
Prof., UCLA;   1996-97, Assoc. Prof., UCLA;   1994-96, Asst. Prof., UCLA

1991 – 94  
Research Staff, IBM T.J. Watson Res. Labs, Yorktown, NY

1988-1991  
UC Berkeley Miller Fellowship, Postdoctoral Scholar

1988   
Rice University, PhD, Chemistry

1988   
Rice University, MA, Chemistry

1984    
Baylor University, BSc, Chemistry

Chen, Daniel G., Jingyi Xie, Jongchan Choi, Rachel H. Ng, Rongyu Zhang, Sarah Li, Rick Edmark, et al. 2024. “Integrative Systems Biology Reveals NKG2A-Biased Immune Responses Correlate with Protection in Infectious Disease, Autoimmune Disease, and Cancer.” Cell Reports 43 (3). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2024.113872. Cite Download
Heath, James R., Daniel Chen, Jingyi Xie, Jongchan Choi, Rachel Ng, Rongyu Zhang, Sarah Li, et al. 2023. “An NKG2A Biased Immune Response Confers Protection for Infection, Autoimmune Disease, and Cancer.” Preprint. In Review. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3413673/v1. Cite Download
Chen, Daniel G., Jingyi Xie, Yapeng Su, and James R. Heath. 2023. “T Cell Receptor Sequences Are the Dominant Factor Contributing to the Phenotype of CD8+ T Cells with Specificities against Immunogenic Viral Antigens.” Cell Reports 42 (11): 113279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113279. Cite
Cheng, Hanjun, Yin Tang, Zhonghan Li, Zhili Guo, James R. Heath, Min Xue, and Wei Wei. 2023. “Non-Mass Spectrometric Targeted Single-Cell Metabolomics.” Trends in Analytical Chemistry: TRAC 168: 117300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trac.2023.117300. Cite
Ng, Alphonsus H. C., Huiqian Hu, Kai Wang, Kelsey Scherler, Sarah E. Warren, Daniel R. Zollinger, Jill McKay-Fleisch, et al. 2023. “Organ-Specific Immunity: A Tissue Analysis Framework for Investigating Local Immune Responses to SARS-CoV-2.” Cell Reports 42 (10): 113212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113212. Cite Download
Nag, Arundhati, Amirhossein Mafi, Samir Das, Mary Beth Yu, Belen Alvarez-Villalonga, Soo-Kyung Kim, Yapeng Su, William A. Goddard, and James R. Heath. 2023. “Stereochemical Engineering Yields a Multifunctional Peptide Macrocycle Inhibitor of Akt2 by Fine-Tuning Macrocycle-Cell Membrane Interactions.” Communications Chemistry 6 (1): 95. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-023-00890-w. Cite Download
Finton, Kathryn A. K., Peter B. Rupert, Della J. Friend, Ana Dinca, Erica S. Lovelace, Matthew Buerger, Domnita V. Rusnac, et al. 2023. “Effects of HLA Single Chain Trimer Design on Peptide Presentation and Stability.” Frontiers in Immunology 14: 1170462. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1170462. Cite Download
Flower, Cameron T., Chunmei Liu, James R. Heath, Wei Wei, and Forest M. White. 2023. “Abstract 4876: A Systems Pharmacology Approach to Discover Synergistic Targeted Therapy Combinations.” Cancer Research 83 (7_Supplement): 4876. https://doi.org/10.1158/1538-7445.AM2023-4876. Cite
Chour, William, Jongchan Choi, Jingyi Xie, Mary E. Chaffee, Thomas M. Schmitt, Kathryn Finton, Diana C. DeLucia, et al. 2023. “Large Libraries of Single-Chain Trimer Peptide-MHCs Enable Antigen-Specific CD8+ T Cell Discovery and Analysis.” Communications Biology 6 (1): 528. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-04899-8. Cite Download
Xu, Alexander M., William Chour, Diana C. DeLucia, Yapeng Su, Ana Jimena Pavlovitch-Bedzyk, Rachel Ng, Yusuf Rasheed, Mark M. Davis, John K. Lee, and James R. Heath. 2023. “Entropic Analysis of Antigen-Specific CDR3 Domains Identifies Essential Binding Motifs Shared by CDR3s with Different Antigen Specificities.” Cell Systems 14 (4): 273-284.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2023.03.001. Cite
Matuozzo, Daniela, Estelle Talouarn, Astrid Marchal, Peng Zhang, Jeremy Manry, Yoann Seeleuthner, Yu Zhang, et al. 2023. “Rare Predicted Loss-of-Function Variants of Type I IFN Immunity Genes Are Associated with Life-Threatening COVID-19.” Genome Medicine 15 (1): 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13073-023-01173-8. Cite Download
Solomon, Benjamin D., Hong Zheng, Laura W. Dillon, Jason D. Goldman, Christopher S. Hourigan, James R. Heath, and Purvesh Khatri. 2023. “Prediction of HLA Genotypes from Single-Cell Transcriptome Data.” Frontiers in Immunology 14: 1146826. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1146826. Cite Download
Horwitz, Leora I., Tanayott Thaweethai, Shari B. Brosnahan, Mine S. Cicek, Megan L. Fitzgerald, Jason D. Goldman, Rachel Hess, et al. 2023. “Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Adult Study Protocol: Rationale, Objectives, and Design.” PloS One 18 (6): e0286297. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0286297. Cite Download
Puig-Saus, Cristina, Barbara Sennino, Songming Peng, Clifford L. Wang, Zheng Pan, Benjamin Yuen, Bhamini Purandare, et al. 2023. “Neoantigen-Targeted CD8+ T Cell Responses with PD-1 Blockade Therapy.” Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05787-1. Cite
Foy, Susan P., Kyle Jacoby, Daniela A. Bota, Theresa Hunter, Zheng Pan, Eric Stawiski, Yan Ma, et al. 2022. “Non-Viral Precision T Cell Receptor Replacement for Personalized Cell Therapy.” Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05531-1. Cite
Zaslavsky, Maxim E., Nikhil Ram-Mohan, Joel M. Guthridge, Joan T. Merrill, Jason D. Goldman, Ji-Yeun Lee, Krishna M. Roskin, et al. 2022. “Disease Diagnostics Using Machine Learning of Immune Receptors.” BioRxiv: The Preprint Server for Biology, 2022.04.26.489314. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.04.26.489314. Cite Download
Matuozzo, Daniela, Estelle Talouarn, Astrid Marchal, Jeremy Manry, Yoann Seeleuthner, Yu Zhang, Alexandre Bolze, et al. 2022. “Rare Predicted Loss-of-Function Variants of Type I IFN Immunity Genes Are Associated with Life-Threatening COVID-19.” MedRxiv: The Preprint Server for Health Sciences, 2022.10.22.22281221. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.22.22281221. Cite Download
Thompson, Ryan C., Nicole W. Simons, Lillian Wilkins, Esther Cheng, Diane Marie Del Valle, Gabriel E. Hoffman, Carlo Cervia, et al. 2022. “Molecular States during Acute COVID-19 Reveal Distinct Etiologies of Long-Term Sequelae.” Nature Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-02107-4. Cite Download
Kornilov, Sergey, Andrew Magis, Nathan D Price, Richard Gelinas, James R. Heath, J Acosta, P Repovic, and S Cohan. 2022. “Initiation of Ocrelizumab in Patients with Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis Is Associated with a Broad Immunomodulatory Response Implicating Proinflammatory T-Cells: A Multi-Omics Study.” Multiple Scleroisis Journal 28 (3): 763. Cite
Goldman, Jason D., Kai Wang, Katharina Röltgen, Sandra C. A. Nielsen, Jared C. Roach, Samia N. Naccache, Fan Yang, et al. 2022. “Reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 and Waning Humoral Immunity: A Case Report.” Vaccines 11 (1): 5. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11010005. Cite Download
Duvvuri, Venkata R., Andrew Baumgartner, Sevda Molani, Patricia V. Hernandez, Dan Yuan, Ryan T. Roper, Wanessa F. Matos, et al. 2022. “Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) Inhibitors May Moderate COVID-19 Hyperinflammatory Response: An Observational Study with Deep Immunophenotyping.” Health Data Science 2022: 0002. https://doi.org/10.34133/hds.0002. Cite Download
Shemesh, Avishai, Yapeng Su, Daniel R. Calabrese, Daniel Chen, Janice Arakawa-Hoyt, Kole T. Roybal, James R. Heath, John R. Greenland, and Lewis L. Lanier. 2022. “Diminished Cell Proliferation Promotes Natural Killer Cell Adaptive-like Phenotype by Limiting FcεRIγ Expression.” The Journal of Experimental Medicine 219 (11): e20220551. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20220551. Cite Download
Mao, Zhiyuan, Pavlo A. Nesterenko, Jami McLaughlin, Weixian Deng, Giselle Burton Sojo, Donghui Cheng, Miyako Noguchi, et al. 2022. “Physical and in Silico Immunopeptidomic Profiling of a Cancer Antigen Prostatic Acid Phosphatase Reveals Targets Enabling TCR Isolation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 119 (31): e2203410119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2203410119. Cite Download
Ng, Rachel H., Jihoon W. Lee, Priyanka Baloni, Christian Diener, James R. Heath, and Yapeng Su. 2022. “Constraint-Based Reconstruction and Analyses of Metabolic Models: Open-Source Python Tools and Applications to Cancer.” Frontiers in Oncology 12: 914594. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2022.914594. Cite Download
Manry, Jérémy, Paul Bastard, Adrian Gervais, Tom Le Voyer, Jérémie Rosain, Quentin Philippot, Eleftherios Michailidis, et al. 2022. “The Risk of COVID-19 Death Is Much Greater and Age Dependent with Type I IFN Autoantibodies.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 119 (21): e2200413119. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2200413119. Cite Download
Li, Jing, Maxim Zaslavsky, Yapeng Su, Jing Guo, Michael J. Sikora, Vincent van Unen, Asbjørn Christophersen, et al. 2022. “KIR+CD8+ T Cells Suppress Pathogenic T Cells and Are Active in Autoimmune Diseases and COVID-19.” Science 0 (0): eabi9591. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi9591. Cite Download
Su, Yapeng, Dan Yuan, Daniel G. Chen, Rachel H. Ng, Kai Wang, Jongchan Choi, Sarah Li, et al. 2022. “Multiple Early Factors Anticipate Post-Acute COVID-19 Sequelae.” Cell 0 (0). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2022.01.014. Cite Download
Ross, Mary Kay, Cyrus Raji, Kristine L. Lokken, Dale E. Bredesen, Jared C. Roach, Cory C. Funk, Nathan Price, Noa Rappaport, Leroy Hood, and James R. Heath. 2021. “Case Study: A Precision Medicine Approach to Multifactorial Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease.” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease & Parkinsonism 11 (Suppl 5): 018. Cite
Nesterenko, Pavlo A., Jami McLaughlin, Brandon L. Tsai, Giselle Burton Sojo, Donghui Cheng, Daniel Zhao, Zhiyuan Mao, et al. 2021. “HLA-A∗02:01 Restricted T Cell Receptors against the Highly Conserved SARS-CoV-2 Polymerase Cross-React with Human Coronaviruses.” Cell Reports 37 (13): 110167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2021.110167. Cite Download
Jung, Yugyung, Minkook Son, Yu Ri Nam, Jongchan Choi, James R. Heath, and Sung Yang. 2021. “Microfluidic Single-Cell Proteomics Assay Chip: Lung Cancer Cell Line Case Study.” Micromachines 12 (10): 1147. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12101147. Cite Download
Jiang, Yonghou, Fergal Duffy, Jennifer Hadlock, Andrew Raappana, Sheila Styrchak, Ingrid Beck, Fred D. Mast, et al. 2021. “Angiotensin II Receptor I Auto-Antibodies Following SARS-CoV-2 Infection.” PloS One 16 (11): e0259902. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259902. Cite Download
Bastard, Paul, Adrian Gervais, Tom Le Voyer, Jérémie Rosain, Quentin Philippot, Jérémy Manry, Eleftherios Michailidis, et al. 2021. “Autoantibodies Neutralizing Type I IFNs Are Present in ~4% of Uninfected Individuals over 70 Years Old and Account for ~20% of COVID-19 Deaths.” Science Immunology 6 (62): eabl4340. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciimmunol.abl4340. Cite Download
Lee, Jihoon W., Yapeng Su, Priyanka Baloni, Daniel Chen, Ana Jimena Pavlovitch-Bedzyk, Dan Yuan, Venkata R. Duvvuri, et al. 2021. “Integrated Analysis of Plasma and Single Immune Cells Uncovers Metabolic Changes in Individuals with COVID-19.” Nature Biotechnology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-021-01020-4. Cite Download
Krämer, Benjamin, Rainer Knoll, Lorenzo Bonaguro, Michael ToVinh, Jan Raabe, Rosario Astaburuaga-García, Jonas Schulte-Schrepping, et al. 2021. “Early IFN-α Signatures and Persistent Dysfunction Are Distinguishing Features of NK Cells in Severe COVID-19.” Immunity, S1074-7613(21)00365-4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2021.09.002. Cite Download
Lu, Yue, Alphonsus H. C. Ng, Frances E. Chow, Richard G. Everson, Beth A. Helmink, Michael T. Tetzlaff, Rohit Thakur, et al. 2021. “Resolution of Tissue Signatures of Therapy Response in Patients with Recurrent GBM Treated with Neoadjuvant Anti-PD1.” Nature Communications 12 (1): 4031. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24293-4. Cite Download
Idso, Matthew N., Bert T. Lai, Heather D. Agnew, and James R. Heath. 2021. “Protein Catalyzed Capture (PCC) Agents for Antigen Targeting.” Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton, N.J.) 2371: 177–91. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1689-5_10. Cite
Su, Yapeng, Dan Yuan, Daniel G. Chen, Kai Wang, Jongchan Choi, Chengzhen L. Dai, Sunga Hong, et al. 2021. “Heterogeneous Immunological Recovery Trajectories Revealed in Post-Acute COVID-19.” MedRxiv, 2021.03.19.21254004. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.19.21254004. Cite Download
Zheng, Hong, Aditya M. Rao, Denis Dermadi, Jiaying Toh, Lara Murphy Jones, Michele Donato, Yiran Liu, et al. 2021. “Multi-Cohort Analysis of Host Immune Response Identifies Conserved Protective and Detrimental Modules Associated with Severity across Viruses.” Immunity 54 (4): 753-768.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2021.03.002. Cite Download
Dai, Chengzhen L., Sergey A. Kornilov, Ryan T. Roper, Hannah Cohen-Cline, Kathleen Jade, Brett Smith, James R. Heath, et al. 2021. “Characteristics and Factors Associated with COVID-19 Infection, Hospitalization, and Mortality Across Race and Ethnicity.” Clinical Infectious Diseases: An Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciab154. Cite Download
Goldman, Jason D., Kai Wang, Katharina Röltgen, Sandra C. A. Nielsen, Jared C. Roach, Samia N. Naccache, Fan Yang, et al. 2020. “Reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 and Failure of Humoral Immunity: A Case Report.” https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.09.22.20192443v1. Cite Download
Su, Yapeng, Guideng Li, Melissa Ko, Hanjun Cheng, Ronghui Zhu, Min Xue, Lidia Robert, et al. 2020. “Abstract 6585: Systems Biology for Investigating Drug Resistance Mechanism of Melanoma.” Cancer Research 80 (16 Supplement): 6585–6585. https://doi.org/10.1158/1538-7445.AM2020-6585. Cite
Chuntova, Pavlina, Frances Chow, Payal Watchmaker, Mildred Galvez, Amy B. Heimberger, Evan W. Newell, Aaron Diaz, et al. 2020. “Unique Challenges for Glioblastoma Immunotherapy - Discussions across Neuro-Oncology and Non-Neuro-Oncology Experts in Cancer Immunology.” Neuro-Oncology. https://doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/noaa277. Cite
Du, Jiajun, Yapeng Su, Chenxi Qian, Dan Yuan, Kun Miao, Dongkwan Lee, Alphonsus H. C. Ng, et al. 2020. “Raman-Guided Subcellular Pharmaco-Metabolomics for Metastatic Melanoma Cells.” Nature Communications 11 (1): 4830. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18376-x. Cite Download
Wells, Daniel K., Marit M. van Buuren, Kristen K. Dang, Vanessa M. Hubbard-Lucey, Kathleen C. F. Sheehan, Katie M. Campbell, Andrew Lamb, et al. 2020. “Key Parameters of Tumor Epitope Immunogenicity Revealed Through a Consortium Approach Improve Neoantigen Prediction.” Cell 183 (3): 818-834.e13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.09.015. Cite
Heath, James R. 2020. “Interdisciplinary Profile: An Established Chemist Journeys into Different Disciplines.” IScience 23 (5): 101088. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2020.101088. Cite Download
Su, Yapeng, Daniel Chen, Dan Yuan, Christopher Lausted, Jongchan Choi, Chengzhen L. Dai, Valentin Voillet, et al. 2020. “Multi-Omics Resolves a Sharp Disease-State Shift between Mild and Moderate COVID-19.” Cell, S0092867420314446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2020.10.037. Cite Download
Idso, Matthew N., Ajay Suresh Akhade, Mario L. Arrieta-Ortiz, Bert T. Lai, Vivek Srinivas, James P. Hopkins, Ana Oliveira Gomes, Naeha Subramanian, Nitin Baliga, and James R. Heath. 2020. “Antibody-Recruiting Protein-Catalyzed Capture Agents to Combat Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria.” Chemical Science 11 (11): 3054–67. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9SC04842A. Cite Download Download
Su, Yapeng, Melissa E. Ko, Hanjun Cheng, Ronghui Zhu, Min Xue, Jessica Wang, Jihoon W. Lee, et al. 2020. “Multi-Omic Single-Cell Snapshots Reveal Multiple Independent Trajectories to Drug Tolerance in a Melanoma Cell Line.” Nature Communications 11 (1): 2345. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15956-9. Cite Download
Heath, James R. 2019. “Framing Technology Challenges Associated with Improving Cancer Immunotherapies.” Lab on a Chip 19 (20): 3366–67. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9lc90103e. Cite