James R. Heath, PhD

President & Professor

Jim Heath Headshot

Dr. James R. Heath is President and Professor at Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle. Heath also has the position of Professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at UCLA. Formerly, he was the Elizabeth W. Gilloon Professor of Chemistry at Caltech, and served as co-director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at UCLA until 2017.

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 is understood, and now 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 PACT Pharma, Integrated Diagnostics, Indi Molecular, CTI Molecular Imaging (acquired by Siemens in 2005), Sofie Biosciences, Isoplexis, and NanoSys.

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

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
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
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
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
Lu, Yue, Byung-Kuk Yoo, Alphonsus H. C. Ng, Jungwoo Kim, Sinchul Yeom, Jau Tang, Milo M. Lin, Ahmed H. Zewail, and James R. Heath. 2019. “4D Electron Microscopy of T Cell Activation.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 116 (44): 22014–19. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1914078116. Cite
Zhu, Yanni, Drake J. Smith, Yang Zhou, Yan-Ruide Li, Jiaji Yu, Derek Lee, Yu-Chen Wang, et al. 2019. “Development of Hematopoietic Stem Cell-Engineered Invariant Natural Killer T Cell Therapy for Cancer.” Cell Stem Cell 25 (4): 542-557.e9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2019.08.004. Cite
Ng, Alphonsus H. C., Songming Peng, Alexander M. Xu, Won Jun Noh, Katherine Guo, Michael T. Bethune, William Chour, et al. 2019. “MATE-Seq: Microfluidic Antigen-TCR Engagement Sequencing.” Lab on a Chip 19 (18): 3011–21. https://doi.org/10.1039/C9LC00538B. Cite Download
Su, Yapeng, Guideng Li, Melissa E. Ko, Hanjun Cheng, Ronghui Zhu, Min Xue, Jessica Wang, et al. 2019. “Trajectories from Snapshots: Integrated Proteomic and Metabolic Single-Cell Assays Reveal Multiple Independent Adaptive Responses to Drug Tolerance in a BRAF-Mutant Melanoma Cell Line.” BioRxiv, 767988. https://doi.org/10.1101/767988. Cite Download
Liang, JingXin, David N. Bunck, Anvita Mishra, Sunga Hong, Matthew N. Idso, and James R. Heath. 2019. “Inhibition of Heme Sequestration of Histidine-Rich Protein 2 Using Multiple Epitope-Targeted Peptides.” Journal of Peptide Science: An Official Publication of the European Peptide Society 25 (9): e3203. https://doi.org/10.1002/psc.3203. Cite
Peng, Songming, Jesse M. Zaretsky, Alphonsus H. C. Ng, William Chour, Michael T. Bethune, Jongchan Choi, Alice Hsu, et al. 2019. “Sensitive Detection and Analysis of Neoantigen-Specific T Cell Populations from Tumors and Blood.” Cell Reports 28 (10): 2728-2738.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2019.07.106. Cite
Su, Yapeng, Marcus Bintz, Yezi Yang, Lidia Robert, Alphonsus H. C. Ng, Victoria Liu, Antoni Ribas, James R. Heath, and Wei Wei. 2019. “Phenotypic Heterogeneity and Evolution of Melanoma Cells Associated with Targeted Therapy Resistance.” PLoS Computational Biology 15 (6): e1007034. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007034. Cite Download
Agnew, Heather D., Matthew B. Coppock, Matthew N. Idso, Bert T. Lai, JingXin Liang, Amy M. McCarthy-Torrens, Carmen M. Warren, and James R. Heath. 2019. “Protein-Catalyzed Capture Agents.” Chemical Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.8b00660. Cite
Wen, Patrick Y., Mehdi Touat, Brian M. Alexander, Ingo K. Mellinghoff, Shakti Ramkissoon, Christine S. McCluskey, Kristine Pelton, et al. 2019. “Buparlisib in Patients With Recurrent Glioblastoma Harboring Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinase Pathway Activation: An Open-Label, Multicenter, Multi-Arm, Phase II Trial.” Journal of Clinical Oncology: Official Journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, JCO1801207. https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.18.01207. Cite
Xu, Alexander M., Qianhe Liu, Kaitlyn L. Takata, Sarah Jeoung, Yapeng Su, Igor Antoshechkin, Sisi Chen, Matthew Thomson, and James R. Heath. 2018. “Integrated Measurement of Intracellular Proteins and Transcripts in Single Cells.” Lab on a Chip. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8lc00639c. Cite
McCarthy, Amy M., Jungwoo Kim, A. Katrine Museth, Ryan K. Henning, John E. Heath, Emma Winson, Joseph J. Oh, Jingxin Liang, Sunga Hong, and James R. Heath. 2018. “Allosteric Inhibitor of KRas Identified Using a Barcoded Assay Microchip Platform.” Analytical Chemistry 90 (15): 8824–30. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.8b00706. Cite Download
Sibener, Leah V., Ricardo A. Fernandes, Elizabeth M. Kolawole, Catherine B. Carbone, Fan Liu, Darren McAffee, Michael E. Birnbaum, et al. 2018. “Isolation of a Structural Mechanism for Uncoupling T Cell Receptor Signaling from Peptide-MHC Binding.” Cell 174 (3): 672-687.e27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2018.06.017. Cite Download
Li, Zhonghan, Hanjun Cheng, Shiqun Shao, Xiang Lu, Li Mo, Jonathan Tsang, Pu Zeng, et al. 2018. “Surface Immobilization of Redox-Labile Fluorescent Probes: Enabling Single-Cell Co-Profiling of Aerobic Glycolysis and Oncogenic Protein Signaling Activities.” Angewandte Chemie (International Ed. in English). https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201803034. Cite
Su, Yapeng, Wei Wei, Lidia Robert, Min Xue, Jennifer Tsoi, Angel Garcia-Diaz, Blanca Homet Moreno, et al. 2017. “Single-Cell Analysis Resolves the Cell State Transition and Signaling Dynamics Associated with Melanoma Drug-Induced Resistance.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 114 (52): 13679–84. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1712064115. Cite