Transplantation Immunology within Advanced Urinary Care
Rejection of major histocompatibility unmatched, allogeneic tissues and cells are a significant barrier to successful organ transplant and off-the-shelf, genetically engineered adoptive T cell therapies. Overcoming this barrier by exploiting the beneficial effects of immune regulatory cell would enable more patients to receive life-saving organ transplants or adoptive T cell therapies that have the potential to cure patients with hematological and solid cancers.
Our clinical research team within Penn Vet's Advanced Urinary Care service includes translational immunologists, transplant immunologists and surgeons, and extracorporeal therapy criticalists who are exploring the adoptive transfer of immune regulatory cell types such as regulatory T cells (Tregs) and iNKT cells to promote immune tolerance.
Our group has significant expertise in transplant immunology and renal transplant surgery and in the generation and use of adoptive cellular therapies in canine cancer patients.
Our goal is to apply our combined expertise to develop canine immune regulatory cellular therapies that can be used either alone or in combination with other immunomodulatory platforms to enable successful allogeneic renal transfer in canines with chronic renal failure.