Kong Lab
Principal Investigator: Xiao-Fei Kong
Institution: The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas, TX)
Primary Subfield: Immunology
Recruitment Status: ✅ Accepting PhD Students ✅ Hiring Postdocs
Research Focus
Human Genetics of Severe Autoimmune Hepatitis Abstract: Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) presents with a broad clinical spectrum, ranging from asymptomatic liver enzyme elevations to fulminant acute liver failure. Our central hypothesis is that unidentified genetic risk factors contribute to disease severity by altering networks of circulating proteins, including autoantibodies. To test this hypothesis, we will study two AIH patient cohorts: the first includes 84 individuals with severe AIH enrolled through the Acute Liver Failure Study Group, and the second comprises 468 patients identified through the All of Us Research Program. Aim 1 will focus on identifying common and rare genetic risk factors for AIH by analyzing next- generation sequencing data from both cohorts. We will integrate genetic ancestry, HLA genotypes, and variant- and gene-level information to identify key loci and pathways. Our analyses will include genome-wide association studies, diagnostic variant annotation, gene burden testing, and molecular characterization of novel risk variants. Aim 2 will investigate the role of autoantibodies and circulating proteins in severe AIH using serum-based profiling. We will screen…
Active NIH Awards
- 1R21AI199336-01: Human genetics of severe autoimmune hepatitis (2026)
- 1R01AI189502-01A1: Genetic and Immunological Investigation of ABCF1 in Celiac Disease and Autoimmunity (2026)
- 1R03DK144282-01: Novel approaches to dissect the genetic susceptibilities to celiac disease (2025)
- 5K08DK128631-06: A generic and immunological investigation of JAK-STAT in the pathogenesis of Celiac (2025)
- 5K08DK128631-05: A generic and immunological investigation of JAK-STAT in the pathogenesis of Celiac (2024)
Explore 700+ US Biology Labs on FindBioLabs.com