Research Efforts in Pediatric Surgery

Treatment of Autoimmune thyroiditis

Principal Investigator:

Ai-Xuan Holterman

Co-Investigators:

Bellur Prabhakar, PhD

Funding:

NIAID, NIH

Project Summary:

The goal of this project is to develop a flexible therapeutic strategy to specifically control the autoimmune process that results in thyroid cell destruction without impairing the immune system’s ability to mount an appropriate immune response to pathogenic challenges.

Project Title:

Therapeutic strategies to protect islet cell transplants

Principal Investigator:

Mark Holterman

Co-Investigators:

Bellur Prabhakar, PhD, Dengping Yin, MD-PhD

Project Summary

A combination of pancreatic islet cells and stems cells from umbilical cord blood comprises a novel transplantation strategy for improving treatment of diabetic patients.

Project Title:

Control of autoimmune diabetes through the administration of umbilical cord blood

Principal Investigator:

Jayaraman Sundararjan, PhD

Co-Investigators:

Mark J. Holterman, MD-PhD

Project Summary

Autoimmune diabetes-prone mice are treated with neonatal blood cells to control the autoimmune destructive process.

Project Title:

Dendritic cell based vaccines to induce antigen specific control of the immune system

Principal Investigator:

Chenthamarakshan Vasu, PhD

Co-Investigators:

Mark J. Holterman, MD-PhD, Bellur Prabhakar, PhD

Project Summary

A powerful method of controlling the immune response against auto- or alloantigens has been developed.  The therapy utilizes antigen presenting dendritic cells coated with an inhibitory signaling antibody.  The resulting immune response is inhibited through the expansion of regulatory T cells.

Project Title:

The use of the Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Band to treat Morbidly Obese Adolescents

Principal Investigator:

Mark J. Holterman, MD-PhD, Ai-Xuan Le Holterman, MD and Allen Browne, MD

Project Summary

The safety and efficacy of the Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Band for the control of morbidly obese teenagers who cannot control their weight through non-surgical therapies.