Research Vision:

Our research focuses on two critical needs in organ transplantation:

1) Solving the problem of organ shortage by cryopreservation

2) Avoiding the morbidity and mortality associated with immunosuppressive medications by inducing immunologic tolerance

Both of these research objectives have the potential to revolutionize how we perform transplants and take care of our recipients.

Research Areas:

• Organ and tissue cryopreservation

• Transplant tolerance

• Immune monitoring

Research Publications:

1. Finger EB, Bischof JC. Cryopreservation by vitrification: a promising approach for transplant organ banking. Curr Opin Organ Transplant. 2018 Jun;23(3):353-360. doi: 10.1097/MOT.0000000000000534. PMID: 29702495.

2. Spanier JA, Sahli NL, Wilson JC, Martinov T, Dileepan T, Burrack AL, Finger EB, Blazar BR, Michels AW, Moran A, Jenkins MK, Fife BT. Increased Effector Memory Insulin-Specific CD4⁺ T Cells Correlate With Insulin Autoantibodies in Patients With Recent-Onset Type 1 Diabetes. Diabetes. 2017 Dec;66(12):3051-3060. doi: 10.2337/db17-0666. Epub 2017 Aug 25. PMID: 28842400; PMCID: PMC5697953.

3. Rudolph EN, Dunn TB, Sutherland DER, Kandaswamy R, Finger EB. Optimizing outcomes in pancreas transplantation: Impact of organ preservation time. Clin Transplant. 2017 Sep;31(9). doi: 10.1111/ctr.13035. Epub 2017 Aug 29. PMID: 28636074.

4. Serrano OK, Vock DM, Chinnakotla S, Dunn TB, Kandaswamy R, Pruett TL, Feldman R, Matas AJ, Finger EB. The Relationships Between Cold Ischemia Time, Kidney Transplant Length of Stay, and Transplant-related Costs. Transplantation. 2019 Feb;103(2):401-411. doi: 10.1097/TP.0000000000002309. PMID: 29863580.

5. Finger EB, Strom TB, Matas AJ. Tolerance--is it worth it? Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2014 Feb 1;4(2):a015594. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a015594. PMID: 24370928; PMCID: PMC3904098.