Title:
Associate Professor

Institute:
University of British Columbia

Department:
Surgery

Province:
British Columbia

Training:
Postdoctoral fellow, HSR-TIGET, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
PhD, The Biomedical Research Centre, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
BSc, Biology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada

Research interests:
Development of methods to use T regulatory cells as a therapy to induce tolerance in transplantation; defining the role of molecular signaling pathways in the development and function of T regulatory cells; studying the interaction between innate immune cells and stimuli and T regulatory cells

Recognitions:
Canadian Society for Immunology New Investigator Award, 2009
Roche Organ Transplant Research Foundation Recognition Award, 2011

Career highlights:
First to isolate and expand human regulatory T cells and show they could prevent responses to transplanted tissues
Canada Research Chair in Transplantation 2003-2013
Defined the role of FOXP3 in human regulatory T cells

Research Projects

Project title:
Regulatory T cell therapy for graft versus host disease

Funding period:
2011-2013

Program:
Operating Grant (basic research)

Summary:
A common procedure used to try and cure patients who have a cancer of the immune system is to eliminate the patient's immune system and replace it with someone else's. This procedure is known as stem cell transplantation, or SCT. Across the world, over 25,000 people with cancer receive this therapy every year. Unfortunately the success of SCT is limited by a life-threatening complication known as graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD). GVHD occurs when the new immune cells from the donor of the transplant attack the body of the transplanted patient. There is evidence that specialized cells known as regulatory T cells, or Tregs, can control GVHD. We want to develop ways to use human Tregs as a therapy for SCT patients and to study how they stop GVHD. The aims will ultimately lead to improved outcomes for patients who receive a stem cell transplant in an attempt to cure their cancer.