The Immunological Barriers to Regenerative Medicine

Dr. Paul Fairchild began his research career in Oxford, where he studied for a doctorate within the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, where his research focused on the immune response to organ allografts.  After spending five years as a post-doctoral fellow investigating the etiology of autoimmune disease in the Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, he returned to Oxford, where he is currently a University Lecturer in Pre-clinical Medicine within the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology and a Fellow of Trinity College.  In 2008, Paul Fairchild founded the Oxford Stem Cell Institute (OSCI), for which he currently serves as Co-Director.  As a highly interdisciplinary organization, the OSCI focuses on exploiting the properties of stem cells for the treatment of some of the most intractable chronic and degenerative diseases.  It is within this context that he continues to apply his background in transplantation immunology, in order to investigate the nature of the immune response to tissues differentiated from pluripotent stem cells, and develop approaches to the induction and maintenance of immunological tolerance.

Mechanisms of Immune Rejection of Stem Cell-Derived Tissues: Insights from Organ Transplantation.- The Immunogenicity of ES Cells and their Progeny.- Interaction of Embryonic Stem Cells with the Immune System.- The Role of NK cells and T Cells in the Rejection of Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Tissues.- Mitigating the Risks of Immunogenicity in the Pursuit of Induced Pluripotency.- Thymic Involution: A Barrier or Opportunity for Cell Replacement Therapy?.- Construction of Stem Cell Banks: Prospects for Tissue Matching.- Generation of Histocompatible Tissues via Parthenogenesis.- Prospects for Designing ‘Universal’ Stem Cell Lines.- The Immunosuppressive Properties of Adult Stem Cells: MSC as a Case Study.- The Immunogenicity of Stem Cells and Thymus-Based Strategies to Minimise Immune Rejection.- The Induction of Mixed Chimerism Using ES Cell-Derived Hematopoietic Stem Cells.- Prospects for the Induction of Transplant Tolerance Using Dendritic Cells.- Strategies for the Induction of Tolerance with Monoclonal Antibodies.- Induction of Immunological Tolerance to Transgene Products.- Addressing the Challenge of Autoimmunity in the Treatment of Diabetes with Stem Cells.