Parmjeet S. Randhawa, MD

Professor of Pathology, Division of Transplantation Pathology

Editorships

  • Clinical Transplantation (Associate Editor since 2018)

Professional Affiliations

  • United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology
  • Renal Pathology Society
  • The Transplantation Society
  • American Society of Transplantation
  • Transplant Infectious Disease Society
  • American Society of Nephrology
  • American Society of Microbiology
  • The Indian Society of Renal and Transplant Pathology
Education & Training
President (2021), and Member, Board of Directors (2017-2020), Renal Pathology Society
Jacob Churg Award by The Renal Pathology Society for outstanding contributions to Nephropathology, 2016
American Society of Transplantation Established Investigator Award, 2014
Faculty Recognition at University of Pittsburgh Honors Convocation, 2011, 2014
Ranbaxy Science Foundation Research Award for Medical Sciences-Clinical Research, October 2013
Poster of Distinction Award, American Society of Transplantation Meeting, 2011
Mentor, Stephen Vogel Award, in recognition of an outstanding paper published by a resident or fellow in a journal of the US & Canadian Academy of Pathology, 2010
Fellowship, National Center for Drug Discovery in Neurodegeneration, Harvard Medical School, 2009
Mentor, College of American Pathologists Research, Scholars Grant, 2009
Distinguished Alumnus Award, Maulana Azad Medical College, Delhi University, 2009
Mentor, Thomas E Starzl Institute Fellowship Award in Transplantation Biology, 2007
Fellowship of The American Society of Nephrology, 2004
Invited Speaker over 100 times at major universities, national and international meetings
Research Interests

Next generation sequencing based assays are being applied to clinical samples to (a) enhance the interpretation of native kidney and renal allograft biopsies, (b) understand mechanisms of post-transplant fibrosis, (c) track BKV reactive and alloreactive T-cell clones in serial blood samples of kidney transplant patients, and (d) develop HLA genotyping assays using archival formalin fixed paraffin embedded biopsy tissues.  DNA sequencing of viral strains is being used to define mutations and genomic rearrangements, which may be relevant to the pathogenesis of an extremely refractory interstitial nephritis seen in these individuals.  The interplay between host and viral immune factors in BKV nephropathy disease is being investigated by cellular immunology, miRNA and RNAseq techniques.  Drugs with antiviral activity are being screened in an in-vitro culture model for possible future use in the clinical arena.  Multicenter clinic-pathologic studies are in progress to refine the use of the Banff Schema of renal allograft pathology in biopsies with borderline change, chronic T-cell mediated rejection, interstitial fibrosis/tubular atrophy and BKV nephropathy

Representative Publications
  • Randhawa P. The molecular microscope interpretation of thoracic and abdominal biopsies:  putting things in perspective for the clinician. Clin Transplant, 2021: 35 (4): e14223.
  • MA Wood-Trageser, Qinyong Xu,, A. Zeevi, P. Randhawa, D. Lesniak, and A.J. Demetris. Precsiion Transplant Pathology. Current Opinions in Organ Transplantation. 2020: 25:  412-9.
  • Randhawa P., Roufosse C. The expanding spectrum of antibody mediated rejection: should we include cases where no donor-specific anti-HLA antibody is detected? Am J Transplant. 2019: 19: 622-624
  • Huang Y, Zeng G, Randhawa PS:  Detection of BKV Encoded Mature MicroRNAs in  Kidney Transplant Patients:  Clinical and Biologic Insights.  J Clin Virol. 2019: 119: 6-10.
  • Zeng G, Wang Z, Huang Y, Abedin Z, Liu Y, Randhawa P.:  Cellular and Viral miRNA Expression in Polyomavirus BK Infection.  Transpl Infect Dis. 2019 Aug 13:e13159. doi: 10.1111/tid.13159.
  • Wang Z, Lyu Z, Pan L, Zeng G, Randhawa P.(2019) Defining housekeeping genes suitable for RNA-seq analysis of the human allograft kidney biopsy tissue. BMC Med Genomics. Jun 17;12(1):86. doi: 10.1186/s12920-019-0538-z.
  • Liu P, Tseng GC, Wang Z, Huang YC, and Randhawa P. (2018) Diagnosis of T-cell Mediated Kidney Rejection in Formalin Fixed Paraffin Embedded Tissues Using RNA-Seq Based Machine Learning Algorithms. Human Pathology. S0046-8177(18)30377-0.
  • Pan L, Lyu Z, Adam A, Zeng G, Wang Z, Huang Y, Abedin Z, Randhawa P. (2017) Polyomavirus BK nephropathy-associated transcriptomic signatures: a critical re-evaluation. Transplantation Direct. 4(2):e339
  • Zeng G, Huang Y, Huang Y, Lyu Z, Lesniak D, Randhawa P: Antigen-specificity of T-cell Infiltrates in Biopsies with T-cell Mediated Rejection and BK Polyomavirus Viremia: Analysis by Next Generation Sequencing.  Am J Transplant. 2016 Nov; 16(11): 3131-3138.
  • Ramaswami B, Popescu I, Macedo C, Luo C, Shapiro R, Metes D, Chalasani G, Randhawa P.  Polyomavirus BK Large T-antigen derived peptide elicits a HLA-DR promiscuous and polyfunctional CD4+ T-cell response. Clinical Vaccine Immunology, 18: 1815-1824, 2011. PMCID: PMC 3122532

Complete List of Peer Reviewed Published References (>250): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/parmjeet.randhawa.1/bibliography/41160439/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending