Lawreen Heller Connors, PhD
Emeritus Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Pathology & Laboratory Medicine

PhD, Boston University
MS, Tufts University
BS, Boston College



Dr. Connors received dual undergraduate degrees in Chemistry and Mathematics from Boston College, a master’s degree in Chemistry from Tufts University, and doctoral degree in Biochemistry from Boston University. She joined the Amyloidosis Center as a post-doctoral trainee in 1994, and obtained faculty appointments in the Departments of Biochemistry and Pathology & Laboratory Medicine in 1998 and 2009, respectively.
Dr. Connors focuses her basic science research on uncovering the protein and genetic determinants that underlie the formation of amyloid. The early stages of her career featured structural analyses of amyloid-causing transthyretin (TTR) mutants, mainly those causing cardiac dysfunction. More recently, her studies have been focused on wild-type TTR amyloidosis, an age-related disease now recognized as an under-appreciated cause of heart failure in the elderly. She has received continuous support from the NIH and foundation grants, as well as industry-sponsored research agreements, and has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scholarly articles and book chapters.
In 2009, Dr. Connors played a major role in establishment of the Amyloid Pathology Diagnostic Testing Laboratory in the Amyloidosis Center, a CAP-accredited and CLIA-certified facility that offers histologic and molecular testing for amyloid. Dr. Connors teaches GMS classes on systemic amyloidosis, and has mentored more than 20 master’s, doctoral and postdoctoral students. She has served on multiple local, national and international committees, and is Director of the Amyloidosis Center Gerry Laboratory and Co-Director of the Amyloid Pathology Diagnostic Testing Laboratory.

Member
Boston University
Amyloidosis Center


Member
Boston University
Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research


Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students)
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences




SCAN-MP (Screening for Cardiac Amyloidosis with Nuclear Imaging in Minority Populations)
05/01/2019 - 02/29/2024 (Co-Investigator of Sub-Project / SP)
Boston Medical Center Corporation NIH NHLBI
5R01HL139671-04

ALA Study - Janssen Pharmaceuticals
06/09/2020 - 06/09/2023 (PI of Sub-Project / SP)
PI: Tatiana B. Prokaeva, MD, PhD
Janssen Research & Development, LLC


Renal Immunoglobulin Light Chain Amyloidosis: Translational studies probing disease mechanism as a platform for drug development.
09/01/2018 - 08/31/2022 (PI)
Florida Wildflower Foundation


Molecular Mechanism of Senile Cardiac Amyloidosis
09/15/2017 - 08/31/2019 (PI)
NIH/National Institute on Aging
2R56AG031804-06A1

Validation of blood biomarkers for recognition and monitoring of age-related, wild-type Transthyretin Amyloidosis (ATTRwt)
01/01/2018 - 12/31/2018 (PI)
E. Rhodes & Leona B. Carpenter Foundation


Contribution of Immunoglobulin Constant Domain to Amyloid Formation, Part 4
01/01/2011 - 12/31/2018 (PI)
Florida Wildflower Foundation


Immunohistochemical analyses of Proclara Fusion Protein, NPT189, in Amyloid-infiltrated human heart tissues
01/02/2018 - 06/30/2018 (PI)
Proclara Biosciences


Congo Red Histologic Analysis for Mouse Tissue - DICERNA Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
02/22/2017 - 03/31/2017 (PI)
Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc.


Serum biomarker identification of cardiac amyloidosis in elderly African Americans
04/01/2016 - 03/31/2017 (Subcontract PI)
Boston Medical Center Corporation NIH NIA
5R21AG050206-02

Discovery: A study examining the prevalence of TTR mutations in subjects
09/01/2015 - 08/31/2016 (PI)
Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.


Showing 10 of 18 results. Show All Results


Title


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs
2017 Molecular mechanism of senile cardiac amyloidosis 2R56AG031804-06A1 6
2013 Molecular mechanism of senile cardiac amyloidosis 5R01AG031804-05 21
2012 Molecular mechanism of senile cardiac amyloidosis 5R01AG031804-04 21
2011 S-SULFONATION OF SERUM TRANSTHYRETIN IN SSA/PTMS OF TTR IN AMYLOID FIBRILS 5P41RR010888-15-5084 259
2011 Molecular mechanism of senile cardiac amyloidosis 5R01AG031804-03 21
2010 S-SULFONATION OF SERUM TRANSTHYRETIN IN SSA/PTMS OF TTR IN AMYLOID FIBRILS 5P41RR010888-14-6781 259
2010 Molecular mechanism of senile cardiac amyloidosis 5R01AG031804-02 21
2009 Molecular mechanism of senile cardiac amyloidosis 1R01AG031804-01A2 21
2009 S-SULFONATION OF SERUM TRANSTHYRETIN IN SSA/PTMS OF TTR IN AMYLOID FIBRILS 5P41RR010888-13-6127 259
2009 ULTRACENTRIFUGATION OF AMYLOID PROTEIN COMPLEXES WITH FLUORESCENCE DETECTION 5P41RR010888-13-6199 259
Showing 10 of 17 results. Show All Results

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

iCite Analysis       Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

  1. Madhani A, Sabogal N, Massillon D, Paul LD, Rodriguez C, Fine D, Helmke S, Winburn M, Kurian D, Raiszadeh F, Teruya S, Cohn E, Einstein AJ, Miller EJ, Connors LH, Maurer MS, Ruberg FL. Clinical Penetrance of the Transthyretin V122I Variant in Older Black Patients With Heart Failure: The SCAN-MP (Screening for Cardiac Amyloidosis With Nuclear Imaging in Minority Populations) Study. J Am Heart Assoc. 2023 Aug; 12(15):e028973.View Related Profiles. PMID: 37486082; PMCID: PMC10492994; DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.122.028973;
     
  2. Ghosh S, Villacorta-Martin C, Lindstrom-Vautrin J, Kenney D, Golden CS, Edwards CV, Sanchorawala V, Connors LH, Giadone RM, Murphy GJ. Mapping cellular response to destabilized transthyretin reveals cell- and amyloidogenic protein-specific signatures. Amyloid. 2023 Dec; 30(4):379-393.View Related Profiles. PMID: 37439769; DOI: 10.1080/13506129.2023.2224494;
     
  3. Klimtchuk ES, Peterle D, Bullitt E, Connors LH, Engen JR, Gursky O. Role of complementarity-determining regions 1 and 3 in pathologic amyloid formation by human immunoglobulin ?1 light chains. Amyloid. 2023 Dec; 30(4):364-378.View Related Profiles. PMID: 37216473; PMCID: PMC10663386; DOI: 10.1080/13506129.2023.2212397;
     
  4. Ruberg FL, Blaner WS, Chiuzan C, Connors LH, Einstein AJ, Fine D, Helmke S, Kurian D, Pandey S, Raiszadeh F, Rodriguez C, Sabogal N, Teruya S, Winburn M, Chung WK, Cohn E, Miller EJ, Kelly JW, Maurer MS. Design and Rationale the SCAN-MP (Screening for Cardiac Amyloidosis With Nuclear Imaging in Minority Populations) Study. J Am Heart Assoc. 2023 Apr 18; 12(8):e028534.View Related Profiles. PMID: 37066788; PMCID: PMC10227254; DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.122.028534;
     
  5. Klimtchuk ES, Peterle D, Bullitt EA, Connors LH, Engen JR, Gursky O. Role of Complementarity-Determining Regions 1 and 3 in Pathologic Amyloid Formation by Human Immunoglobulin ?1 Light Chains. bioRxiv. 2023 Feb 03.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36778378; PMCID: PMC9915687; DOI: 10.1101/2023.02.01.526662;
     
  6. Prokaeva T, Klimtchuk ES, Feschenko P, Spencer B, Cui H, Burks EJ, Aslebagh R, Muneeruddin K, Shaffer SA, Varghese E, Berk JL, Connors LH. An additive destabilising effect of compound T60I and V122I substitutions in ATTRv amyloidosis. Amyloid. 2023 Jun; 30(2):141-152.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36286264
     
  7. Prokaeva T, Joshi T, Klimtchuk ES, Gibson VM, Spencer B, Siddiqi O, Nedelkov D, Hu Y, Berk JL, Cuddy SAM, Dasari S, Chiu A, Choate LA, McPhail ED, Cui H, Chen H, Burks EJ, Sanchorawala V, Connors LH. A novel substitution of proline (P32L) destabilises ß2-microglobulin inducing hereditary systemic amyloidosis. Amyloid. 2022 Dec; 29(4):255-262.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35575118; DOI: 10.1080/13506129.2022.2072199;
     
  8. Kaku MC, Bhadola S, Berk JL, Sanchorawala V, Connors LH, Lau KHV. Neurological manifestations of hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis: a focus on diagnostic delays. Amyloid. 2022 Sep; 29(3):184-189.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35253562
     
  9. Mendelson L, Sanchorawala V, Connors L, Joshi T, Doros G, Pogrebinsky A, Havasi A. Correlation Between 24-Hour Urine Protein and Random Urine Protein-Creatinine Ratio in Amyloid Light-Chain Amyloidosis. Kidney Med. 2022 Apr; 4(4):100427.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35342879; PMCID: PMC8942830; DOI: 10.1016/j.xkme.2022.100427;
     
  10. Siddiqi OK, Mints YY, Berk JL, Connors L, Doros G, Gopal DM, Kataria S, Lohrmann G, Pipilas AR, Ruberg FL. Diflunisal treatment is associated with improved survival for patients with early stage wild-type transthyretin (ATTR) amyloid cardiomyopathy: the Boston University Amyloidosis Center experience. Amyloid. 2022 Jun; 29(2):71-78.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35083944; PMCID: PMC9258521; DOI: 10.1080/13506129.2021.2000388;
     
Showing 10 of 108 results. Show More

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 108 publications over 32 distinct years, with a maximum of 9 publications in 2017

YearPublications
19831
19841
19854
19861
19871
19941
19981
19994
20003
20012
20023
20032
20042
20054
20061
20076
20084
20093
20104
20116
20122
20135
20144
20153
20162
20179
20185
20197
20205
20212
20225
20235


Charles River, Medical Campus Faculty Promoted to Full Professor

BU Today 2/11/2019
In addition to these self-described keywords below, a list of MeSH based concepts is available here.

amyloidosis
cardiomyopathy
diflunisal
transthyretin
Contact for Mentoring:

670 Albany St
Boston MA 02118
Google Map

617.638.4313
Download vCard

Connors's Networks
Click the "See All" links for more information and interactive visualizations
Concepts
See all (387) concept(s)
_
Media Mentions
_
Co-Authors
See all (63) people
_
Similar People
See all (60) people
_
Same Department
Search Department