Our laboratory is the cornerstone cardiovascular research program of the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute. We are interested in partial heart transplantation, which is a new type of transplant designed to provide growing heart valve substitutes for infants. Our primary research model is the piglet. Recent publications include:
– Kang L, Aykut B, Javed H, McVadon DH, Prather RS, Overbey DM, Turek JW, and Rajab TKPartial Heart Transplant Growth and Hemodynamic Function in Piglets Partial Heart Transplant Growth and Hemodynamic Function in Piglets. J Am Coll Cardiol Basic Trans Science. Mar 05, 2025. Epublished DOI: 10.1016/j.jacbts.2024.10.015
– Rajab TK, Mitta A, Reemtsen BL. Partial Heart Transplantation. Circulation. 2024 Oct 22;150(17):1313-1314.
– Rajab TK, Vogel AD, Turek JW. Partial heart transplantation: a new option for paediatric heart valve replacement. Nature Reviews Cardiology. 2024 May;21(5):277-278.
– Turek JW, Kang L, Overbey DM, Carboni MP, Rajab TK. Partial Heart Transplant in a Neonate With Irreparable Truncal Valve Dysfunction. JAMA. 2024 Jan 2;331(1):60-64.
The successful candidate will assist in piglet open heart surgery, and will be responsible for peri-operative care of the animals, organizing experiments, and publishing results. Responsibilities include administrating medicine to the animals, ordering animals and surgical supplies, analyzing tissue, and preparing documents such as IACUC protocols. If desired, there are also opportunities to join clinical ICU rounds, and clinical observation in the pediatric cardiac surgery operating room.
Interested applicants should contact Dr. Rajab: tkrajab@uams.edu, iMessage +1 617 901 2638