Members | Principal Investigators
David H. Sachs, MD

Dr. Sachs is Professor of Surgery in the Center for Translational Immunology at Columbia University and the Paul S. Russell Professor Emeritus at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. Throughout his career, he has worked at the interface between basic science and clinical applications in the fi eld of transplantation. His research achievements include: 1) discovery of Ia (ClassII) anti gens in 1973; 2) development of monoclonal anti bodies to MHC anti gens; 3) development of a unique large animal model for transplantation using miniature swine; 4) use of mixed marrow reconstitution as a means of inducing specific transplantation tolerance; and 5) studies of specific transplantation tolerance to allograft s and xenograft s in murine, swine and primate models. He has published over 700 research articles and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He has received many honors and awards, including the Jean Borel Award in Transplantation, the AST Distinguished Achievement Award, the Martin Prize for Excellence in Clinical Research, the Starzl Prize in Surgery and Immunology and the Medawar Prize. 

Publications:

Kawai T, Williams WW, Elias N, Fishman JA, Crisalli K, Longchamp A, Rosales IA, Duggan M, Kimura S, Morena L, Borges TJ, Tomosugi T, Karadagi A, Nakamura T, Safa K, Giarraputo A, Avillach CT, Patalas ED, Smith RN, Sachs DH, Cosimi AB, Madsen JC, Cooper DKC, Pierson R, Perrin S, Anand RP, Chhangawala S, Coscarella M, Daigneault A, Li F, Pearce O, Qin W, Serkin WT, Yeung V, Getchell K, Low SC, Curtis M, Colvin RB, Riella LV.  Xenotransplantation of a Porcine Kidney for End-Stage Kidney Disease. N Engl J Med. 2025 Feb 7. Online ahead of print.PMID: 39927618 go to article

Garry DJ, Weiner JI, Greising SM, Sachs DH, Garry MG. Xenotransplantation and exotransplantation: Strategies to expand the number of donor organs. Xenotransplantation. 2023 Jan;30(1):e12786. doi: 10.1111/xen.12786. Epub 2022 Nov 11. PMID: 36367201.
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Sykes M, Sachs DH. Progress in xenotransplantation: overcoming immune barriers. Nat Rev Nephrol. 2022 Dec;18(12):745-761. doi: 10.1038/s41581-022-00624-6. Epub 2022 Oct 5. PMID: 36198911; PMCID: PMC9671854. go to article

Garry DJ, Weiner JI, Greising SM, Garry MG, Sachs DH. Cardiac Xenotransplantation: Clinical Impact of Science and Discovery. Circulation. 2022 Sep 27;146(13):961-963. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.059191. Epub 2022 Sep 26. PMID: 36154619. go to article

Garry DJ, Weiner JI, Greising SM, Garry MG, Sachs DH. Mechanisms and strategies to promote cardiac xenotransplantation. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2022 Nov;172:109-119. doi: 10.1016/j.yjmcc.2022.07.013. Epub 2022 Aug 27. PMID: 36030840. go to article

Greising SM, Weiner JI, Garry DJ, Sachs DH, Garry MG. Human muscle in gene edited pigs for treatment of volumetric muscle loss. Front Genet. 2022 Jul 25;13:948496. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2022.948496. PMID: 35957684; PMCID: PMC9358139. go to article

Spitzer TR, Sachs DH. Transplantation Tolerance through Hematopoietic Chimerism. N Engl J Med. 2022 Jun 16;386(24):2332-2333. doi: 10.1056/NEJMe2204651. PMID: 35704487. go to article

Matar AJ, Sachs DH, Duran-Struuck R. The MHC-characterized Miniature Swine: Lessons Learned From a 40-Year Experience in Transplantation. Transplantation. 2022 May 1;106(5):928-937. doi: 10.1097/TP.0000000000003977. Epub 2021 Oct 29. PMID: 34720103. go to article

Kawai T, Cosimi AB, Spitzer TR, Tolkoff-Rubin N, Suthanthiran M, Saidman SL, Shaffer J, Preffer FI, Ding R, Sharma V, Fishman JA, Dey B, Ko DS, Hertl M, Goes NB, Wong W, Williams WW, Jr., Colvin RB, Sykes M, Sachs DH, HLA-mismatched renal transplantation without maintenance immunosuppression. N Engl J Med 2008;358:353-61. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa071074 

Yamada K, Yazawa K, Shimizu A, Iwanaga T, Hisashi Y, Nuhn M, O'Malley P, Nobori S, Vagefi PA, Patience C, Fishman J, Cooper DK, Hawley RJ, Greenstein J, Schuurman HJ, Awwad M, Sykes M, Sachs DH. Marked prolongation of porcine renal xenograft survival in baboons through the use of alpha1,3-galactosyltransferase gene-knockout donors and the cotransplantation of vascularized thymic tissue. Nat Med. 2005 Jan;11(1):32-4. doi: 10.1038/nm1172. Epub 2004 Dec 26. PMID: 15619627.  go to article

Fuchimoto Y, Huang CA, Yamada K, Shimizu A, Kitamura H, Colvin RB, Ferrara V, Murphy MC, Sykes M, White-Scharf M, Neville DMJ, Sachs DH, Mixed chimerism and tolerance without whole body irradiation in a large animal model. J Clin Invest 2000;105:1779-89. go to article

Ildstad ST and Sachs DH, Reconstitution with syngeneic plus allogeneic or xenogeneic bone marrow leads to specific acceptance of allografts or xenografts. Nature 1984;307(5947):168-70. go to article