Melanie Graham, MPH, PhD

Associate Professor

Basic and Translational Research

Research Vision:

The Preclinical Research Center is focused on clinically significant and transformative research in diabetes, obesity, and translational research in regenerative medicine, cell therapy and transplantation. The Center is internationally recognized for their work in animal modeling including animal behavior, model refinement and validation, together with innovative surgical approaches - especially in nonhuman primates.

Research Areas:

  • Obesity and Metabolic Disease

  • Transplantation and Immune tolerance

  • Animal Modeling and Refinement

Research Publications:

  1. Hocum Stone L, Oppler SH, Nugent JL, Gresch S, Hering BJ, Murtaugh MP, Hegstad-Davies RL, Ramachandran S, Graham ML. Serum cytokine profiles in healthy nonhuman primates are blunted by sedation and demonstrate sexual dimorphism as detected by a validated multiplex immunoassay. Sci Rep. 2021 Jan 27;11(1):2340. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-81953-7. PMID: 33504894; PMCID: PMC7840937.

  2. Singh A, Ramachandran S, Graham ML, Daneshmandi S, Heller D, Suarez-Pinzon WL, Balamurugan AN, Ansite JD, Wilhelm JJ, Yang A, Zhang Y, Palani NP, Abrahante JE, Burlak C, Miller SD, Luo X, Hering BJ. Long-term tolerance of islet allografts in nonhuman primates induced by apoptotic donor leukocytes. Nat Commun. 2019 Aug 2;10(1):3495. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-11338-y. PMID: 31375697; PMCID: PMC6677762.

  3. Graham ML, Prescott MJ. The multifactorial role of the 3Rs in shifting the harm-benefit analysis in animal models of disease. Eur J Pharmacol. 2015 Jul 15;759:19-29. doi: 10.1016/j.ejphar.2015.03.040. Epub 2015 Mar 28. PMID: 25823812; PMCID: PMC4441106.

  4. Graham ML, Janecek JL, Kittredge JA, Hering BJ, Schuurman HJ. The streptozotocin-induced diabetic nude mouse model: differences between animals from different sources. Comp Med. 2011 Aug;61(4):356-60. PMID: 22330251; PMCID: PMC3155402.

  5. Hering BJ, Wijkstrom M, Graham ML, Hårdstedt M, Aasheim TC, Jie T, Ansite JD, Nakano M, Cheng J, Li W, Moran K, Christians U, Finnegan C, Mills CD, Sutherland DE, Bansal-Pakala P, Murtaugh MP, Kirchhof N, Schuurman JH. Prolonged diabetes reversal after intraportal xenotransplantation of wild-type porcine islets in immunosuppressed nonhuman primates. Nature Medicine. 2006;12(3):301-303.