8.7.1 ABSTRACT: TRANSPLANT BIOLOGY AND THERAPY The Transplant Biology and Therapy (TBT) Program, is a long-established group representing over 30 years of collaborative translational investigation. Led by Daniel Weisdorf, M.D. and John E.. Wagner, M.D., the TBT Program has 38 members, representing investigators affiliated with seven departments and Institutes within schools (Medical School, College of Pharmacy, School of Public Health). As of October 1, 2007, members had 61 distinct (27 peer-reviewed;34 other) externally funded research grants providing a total of $15.3 million in total support for the current budget period (: Since June 2003, their research has resulted in 288 publications, of which 47% were intra-programrriatic and 18% were inter-programmatic. The central research themes of the program include hematopoietic and noh-hematopoietic stem cell biology, hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT), immuriobiology and immune-based therapies as well as studies of tissue repair, peri-transplant complications, survivorship/late effects and quality of life. The Program emphasizes translational development of new agents for therapeutic application and testing in phase l-ll clinical trials with a future goal of moving Cancer Center investigator-initiated phase I and II studies to definitive, multi-institutional phase III clinical trials. The scientific goals of the program are to advance knowledge of human hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic stem cells and derivative populations, advance the understanding of innate and adaptive immunity and immune reconstitution and its use for therapy in conjunction with HCT, develop novel therapeutic approaches to eliminate or reduce the transplantassociated risks of graft failure, acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), opportunistic infection and relapse, and improve the short and long-term quality of life in HCT survivors. Since its inception in 1974, the TBT Program has been a world leader in the field, advancing and improving the effectiveness of transplant therapy through basic and translational research that is ultimately applied to the care of patients. TBT Program investigators use all resources of the University of Minnesota Cancer Center to advance both clinical and basic laboratory investigations.
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