Training in Transplantation Biology

The Transplantation Biology training program is under the direction of David H. Sachs, M.D., the director of the TBRC at the MGH. The program faculty consists of active, funded investigators with expertise in many areas of research related to transplantation biology. All participating faculty members are deeply committed to the training of scientists and are based in a single institution, the MGH.

The participating faculty brings together many different research interests related to transplantation biology. The TBRC believes that diversity of the faculty is a great strength, and provides trainees from a wide variety of backgrounds with the opportunity to select topics of particular interest as individual research projects in which they will receive rigorous and practical training. The TBRC has purposefully designed this training program to includ individuals with a wide range of experience, and all have had the experience of training students and fellows.

Participating Faculty

David H. Sachs, M.D., Hugh Auchincloss, M.D., Robert B. Colvin, M.D., A. Benedict Cosimi, M.D., Jay A. Fishman, M.D., Katia Georgopoulos, Ph.D., Michael Laposata, M.D., Ph.D., Christian LeGuern, Ph.D., Catherine Nagler-Anderson, M.D., Joren C. Madsen, M.D., Ph.D., Shiv Pillai, M.D., Ph.D., Paul S. Russell, M.D., Thomas R. Spitzer, M.D., Ivan Stamenkovic, M.D., Megan Sykes, M.D., Henry J. Winn, Ph.D.

Each participating faculty member's research focuses on specific areas that are related to transplantation of solid organs or bone marrow, or collateral disciplines. The research interests of the faculty members cover a wide range of topics including:

• Antigen processing and recognition (Ploegh)
• Bone marrow transplantation and prevention of graft-versus-host disease (Sachs, Sykes, Spitzer)
• Clinical solid organ and bone marrow transplantation (Cosimi, Madsen, Auchincloss, Spitzer)
• Development of animal models (mouse, pig and primate) to study the induction of transplantation tolerance (Sachs, Iacomini, Sykes, Cosimi)
• Development of non-lethal host preparative regimens for BMT patients (Sykes, Spitzer)
• Development of novel transgenic and knockout mice for immunological research (Georgopoulos, Iacomini)
• Genetic engineering for tolerance induction (Sachs, Sykes, LeGuern, Iacomini)
• Host pathogen interaction affecting the MHC (Ploegh)
• Immunological tolerance (Sachs, LeGuern, Sykes, Iacomini, Winn, Cosimi)
• Immunosuppression for prevention and treatment of transplant rejection (Cosimi, Fishman)
• Lymphocyte development (Pillai, Georgopolous, Nagler-Anderson)
• Mucosal immunology, intraepithelial lymphocytes and inflammatory bowel disease (Nagler-Anderson, Pillai)
• Pathogenesis of chronic organ rejection (Colvin, Madsen, Russell)
• Pathogenesis of infections in immunosuppressed hosts (Fishman)
• Pathology associated with acute, chronic (delayed) antibody and cell mediated graft rejection (Colvin, Russell)
• Regulation of early B and T cell development via signaling through cell surface antigen receptor (Pillai)
• Role of adhesion molecules and carbohydrate-protein interactions in lymphocyte function (Sykes, Stamenkovic)
• Role of the indirect pathway in graft rejection (Auchincloss)
• Role of lymphocyte subsets in graft rejection and tolerance induction (Winn, Sachs)
• Role of natural killer cells in bone marrow and xenograft rejection (Sykes, Sachs)
• Vascular biology (Laposata)
• Vascular disease caused by chronic graft rejection (Russell, Colvin, Madsen)
• Xenotransplantation (Sachs, Auchincloss, Colvin, Cosimi, Iacomini, LeGuern, Sykes)

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