The Burlingham Laboratory
Faculty > William J. Burlingham
William J. Burlingham
Professor, Surgery
Burlingham Laboratory Home Page
Organ System/Disease Focus: Immunology
Aligned Research Focus: Transplantation
Research Description
My research concerns natural and acquired immune tolerance to self and allo[non-self] tissue, the latter differing in histocompatibility antigens, kidney , lung , heart and liver transplantation, and the breaking of tolerance to self in the course of remodeling the matrix of the graft. My stem cell interest lies in the creation of in vivo models of the human adaptive immune system using CD34+ HSCs and fetal thymus/liver transplantation into the severely immunodeficient SCID/NOD/common gamma chain”null” mouse. We have now established that this model provides more than a “furry test tube” but a realistic model to test out stem cell and stell cell –derived tissue transplantation in the context of a competent human adaptive immune system..
Selected References
Rajesh, D. Zhou,Y. ,Ronneburg,D.,Jankowska-Gan,E. Dart,M , Torrealba, J. and Burlingham, W.J. T cell Immunocompetence in Humanized NOD/SCID/CKO mice. 2009[in prep]
Burlingham, W.J. A lesson in tolerance--maternal instruction to fetal cells. N Engl J Med. 2009 Mar 26;360(13):1355-7.
Dutta,P, Dart,M,Bobadilla JL,Roeneburg D,Yan,Z, Torrealba J, and Burlingham WJ. Microchimerism is strongly correlated with tolerance to non-inherited maternal antigens in mice. Blood 2009[in press]