Allan B. Dietz, Ph.D.

Allan B. Dietz and his lab are focused on getting novel therapies to patients. As a Co-Director of the Human Cell Therapy Lab within Mayo's Center for Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Dietz focuses on the use of cells as drugs. To that end, the lab is involved in clinical trials using dendritic cell vaccines to promote immunity and mesenchymal stromal cells (adult stem cells) to suppress immunity and enhance tissue repair.

Dr. Dietz's lab supports these trials by developing methods to grow and characterize these cells; characterizing patients' immune status; and monitoring therapy-induced changes in that status. During the course of these studies Dr. Dietz and his colleagues have described the immunosuppressive effects of monocytes and seek to understand their generation and consequence.

Focus areas

• Immune profiling for most cancers.
• Dendritic cell vaccines for CML, melanoma, glioblastoma, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and ovarian cancer.
• Monocytes for many tumor types and non-malignancies.
• Mesenchymal stromal cells to suppress immunity in GVHD.
• Tissue repair in ALS, Crohn's disease, renal stenosis, and type I diabetes.

Significance to patient care

Dr. Dietz's lab is responsible for developing new therapies for patients. These include adult stem cell treatments and cancer vaccines. Dr. Dietz and his colleagues are dedicated to developing new treatments for the patients with some of the most devastating diseases. These are often the first times these treatments have been used in patients. The lab works with clinicians to get the required approval from the FDA and internal Mayo regulatory bodies.