Sascha Goonewardena

I am an Associate Professor of Medicine, the Associate Director of the Vascular Defense and Discovery Laboratory, and the inaugural Wolfe Immunocardiology Scholar in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Michigan. My research focuses on translational studies and the basic mechanisms of innate immune responses, including how innate immune cells respond to endogenous stress, how they modulate their responses in a context-dependent manner, and the molecular interactions between immune and non-immune cells during the initiation of inflammatory responses. I completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago, using murine models and systems biology approaches to elucidate the innate immune mechanisms underlying heart failure. As an NIH T32 postdoctoral fellow and during my K08 award (NIH/NHLBI), I employed multidimensional cytometry and bioinformatics (including transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics) to investigate innate immune mechanisms behind chronic inflammatory diseases. Over the past several years, I have used cellular, molecular, and machine learning techniques to understand the immune mechanisms driving cardiometabolic disease. My lab has built on these concepts and technologies, utilizing RNA-seq, various proteomic platforms, flow/mass cytometry, and bioinformatics to study how immune dysfunction accelerates thrombotic and cardiovascular diseases. I also serve as the Principal Investigator on a CSR&D Merit award, an investigator-initiated industry contract in which I use a microfluidic proteomic platform I developed to examine circulating immune phenotypes in patients treated with a PCSK9 inhibitor. Additionally, I am a reviewer for high-impact medical journals and an associate editor of the Journal of Clinical Lipidology and Cardiovascular Drugs and Therapeutics, with over 70 manuscripts published.

Innate immunity and macrophage biolog
Heart Failure and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease
Vascular Biology