Alfred Bothwell, PhD
Professor of Immunobiology and Interdepartmental Program in Vascular Biology and Transplantation

Mentee:

Thomas Scott Murray

Dr. Alfred Bothwell areas of interests include lymphocyte development and immunological tolerance. Dr Bothwell and his team are currently studying human T cell recognition of human and porcine endothelial cells on both direct and indirect recognition of MHC, constitutive and inducible adhesion molecules and costimulatory pathways. Analysis of in vitro function will be complemented by studies of in vivo model systems using synthetic microvessels, vessel and skin grafts into humanized SCID mice to study lymphocyte recruitment, vascular remodeling and to evaluate allo and xenograft interactions. One major goal of this system is to evaluate the potential of porcine cells as a source of donor cells for xenografts. Dr. Bothwell hopes to extend this model to develop conditions to enhance the survival and function of transplanted human islets via revascularization.