Transplantation Biology and Immunology.

Jeffrey L. Platt, M.D., is Professor of Surgery, Immunology, and Pediatrics and Head of the Transplantation Biology Program. The Transplantation Biology Program is a multi-disciplinary, highly interactive research program, the goals of which include extension of knowledge into diverse aspects of human biology and the exploiting of that knowledge for the development of novel therapeutics. Dr. Platt's research and that of his colleagues include fundamental investigation of T cells, B cells, and the complement system. This research includes projects directed at the development of novel methods for measuring T cell diversity and tracking T cell clones, and the application of these methods for the understanding of autoimmune and alloimmune reactions. In a related endeavor, Dr. Platt and colleagues have devised an approach to reconstituting the T cell compartment; this approach is being explored for generating immunity in chronic viral infections and inducing tolerance. Other subjects of investigation include the condition of accommodation in which a tissue acquires resistance to injury mediated by complement and cellular immunity and the application of accommodation for the treatment or prevention of human disease, including transplants, autoimmunity and cancer. Dr. Platt and colleagues investigate the function and control of signaling through toll-like receptors as it contributes to generation and control of T cell and B cell responses and the systemic inflammatory response syndrome. This research includes development of novel therapeutic agents that modify toll receptor function. Another research project focuses on the genesis of autoimmunity in subjects with a contracted T cell repertoire, owing to thymectomy and T-cell depletion that accompanies cardiac transplantation in the young, and the reversing of autoimmunity in diabetes. Finally, the mechanisms of regeneration via stem cells vs. cellular fusion is explored, particularly in the kidney. The research described above is supported by grants from the NIH.