University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview Position(s)
Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Physician

Other Related Positions Currently Held
Professor, Division of Hematology/Oncology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation
Section Chief, Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation

Board Certifications
Pediatrics
Hematology/Oncology

Sees Patients At
-University of Minnesota Children's Hospital, Fairview
-Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinic (Minneapolis)
-Masonic Cancer Clinic (Minneapolis)

Clinical Interests
Pediatric hematology/oncology
Bone marrow transplants
Graft-versus-host disease
Graft-versus-leukemia
Tumor immunotherapy

Education
Medical School
Albany Medical College, Albany, NY

Site of Residency
University of Minnesota

Site of Fellowship
University of Minnesota

Awards and Honors
• 1975 BS-Cum Laude, Albany Medical College Research Award
• 1981-1983 American Cancer Society Clinical Fellowship Award
• 1982-1984 NIH-NCI National Research Service Award
• 1985-1987 Leukemia Society of America Fellowship Award
• 1985-1990 National Institutes of Health-National Institute Clinical Investigator Award
• 1992-1995 Edward Mallinckrodt Foundation Scholar Award
• 1992-1996 Vice-Chair New Agents, BMT, Childrens Cancer Group
• 1996 Elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation
• 1999-present Andersen Chair in Transplantation Immunology
• 1998-present MERIT Award, National Heart Lung Blood Institute
• 2002 Elected to the Association of American Physicians
• 2005 E. Donnell Thomas Lecture
• NIH symposium on Translational Immunology as related to Cancer, Co-Chair Transplantation and anti-tumor therapies, 2005
• NIH Expert Panel Member, Transplantation Research, 2005
• Co-Chair, NHLBI Panel Strategic Planning for Cellular Therapies, 2005-present
• Best Doctors in America®, 2007-2008

Research Interest(s)
Prevention of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD)
Development of new strategies to enhance immune recovery after transplantation
Prevention of tumor/leukemia relapse
Gene therapy and tissue repair

Selected Recent Publications
Barao I, Hanash AM, Welniak L, Sun K, Blazar BR, Levy R, Murphy WJ: Suppression of NK-cell mediated bone marrow rejection by regulatory T cells: Linking adaptive to innate responses. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (Track II) 103:5460-5, 2006.

Porter SB, Liu B, Rogosheske J, Levine B, June C, Wagner J, Miller JS, Blazar BR: Effects of graft-versus-host disease prophylactic agents on umbilical cord blood derived human CD4+CD25+ T-regulatory cells and CD4+25- T-cells expansion and function. Transplantation (in press), 2006.

Huang X, Wilber A, Bao L, Tuong D, Orchard PJ, McIvor RS, Blazar BR, Zhou X: Stable gene transfer and expression in human primary T lymphocytes by Sleeping Beauty transposon system.  Blood 107:483-91, 2006.

Zayed H, McIvor RS, Wiest DL, Blazar BR: In Vitro Functional Correction of the Mutation Responsible for Murine Severe Combined Immune Deficiency by Short Fragment Homologous Recombination. Human Gene Therapy 17:158-66, 2006.

Tolar J, O’Shaughnessy MJ, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, McElmurry RT, Bell S, Riddle M, McIvor  RS, Yant SR, Kay MA, Krause D, Verfaillie CM, Blazar BR. Host Factors that Impact the Biodistribution and Persistence of Multipotent Adult Progenitor Cells. Blood (in press), 2006.

Li L, Godfrey WR, Porter SB, Ge Y, June CH, Blazar BR, Boussiotis VA: CD4+25+ regulatory T cells from human cord blood have molecular profiles of T cell anergy. Blood 106:3068-73, 2005.

Sun K, Welniak LA, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, O'Shaughnessy MJ, Liu H, Barao I, Riordan W, Sitcheran R, Wysocki C, Serody JS, Blazar BR, Sayers TJ, Murphy WJ. Inhibition of acute graft-versus-host disease with retention of graft-versus-tumor effects by the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004 May 25;101(21):8120-5.

Moseman EA, Dawson AJ, Liang X, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Krieg AM, Liu Y-J, Blazar BR, Chen W: Generation of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells by CpG oligodeoxynucleotide-activated human plasmacytoid dendritic cells. J. Immunol 173:4433-4442, 2004.

Godfrey WR, Spoden DJ, Ge YG, Baker SR, Lin B, Levine BL, June CH, Blazar BR, Porter SB: FoxP3 protein expressing cord blood CD4+25+ derived T regulatory cell lines manifest potent suppressor cells activity. Blood 105:750-8, 2005.

Taylor PA, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Freeman GJ, Sharpe AH, Noelle RJ, Rudensky AY,  Mak TW, Serody JS,  Blazar BR: Targeting of Inducible Costimulator (ICOS) Expressed on Alloreactive T cells Downregulates Graft-versus-Host Disease (GVHD) and Facilitates Engraftment of Allogeneic Bone Marrow (BM). Blood 105:3372-80, 2005.

Taylor PA, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Swedin JM, Lucas PJ, Gress RE, Levine BL, June CH,  Serody JS,Blazar BR: L-Selectin(hi) but not the L-selectin(lo) CD4+25+ T-regulatory cells are potent inhibitors of GVHD and BM graft rejection.  Blood 104:3804-12, 2004.

Godfrey WR, Spoden DJ, Ge Y, Levine BL, June CH, Blazar BR, Porter SB. In Vitro Expanded Human CD4+CD25+ T Regulatory Cells Markedly Inhibit Allogeneic Dendritic Cell Stimulated MLR Cultures. Blood 104: 453-461, 2004.

Sauer MG, Ericson ME, Weigel BJ, Herron MJ, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Kren BT, Levine BL, Serody JS, June CH, Taylor PA, Blazar BR: A novel system for simultaneous in vivo tracking and biological assessment of leukemia cells and ex vivo generated leukemia-reactive cytotoxic T cells (CTLs). Canc. Res. 64(11):3914-3921, 2004

Chen W, Antonenko S, Sederstrom JM, Liang X, Chan ASH, Kanzler H, Blom B, Blazar BR, Liu Y-J: Thrombopoietin cooperates with flt3-ligand in the generation of large numbers of plasmacytoid dendritic cell precursors from human hematopoietic progenitors. Blood 103:2547-53, 2004.

Godfrey WR, Krampf M, Taylor PA, Blazar BR: Ex vivo depletion of alloreactive cells based on CFSE dye dilution, activation antigen selection, and dendritic cell stimulation. Blood 103:1158-1165, 2004.