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Islets for US
Collaborative
As a transplant surgeon, I help patients who require kidney and/or pancreas transplantation.
As a scientist, I am mainly focused on translational
research testing and bringing novel technologies
and procedures to clinical practice.
For the past 9 years, I have been optimizing pancreatic islet transplantation as a minimally invasive procedure to achieve improved blood glucose control and freedom from insulin in our patients.
Another objective I have is to minimize, and eventually eliminate, the need for toxic anti-rejection medications for transplant protection (to induce immunologic tolerance- the Holy Grail of transplantation).
To meet this goal, I am preparing a novel cellular therapy based on ex-vivo expanded T regulatory cells (Tregs). We have already optimized Treg production in our clinical Laboratory. This therapy can not only benefit transplant patients, but also those with autoimmune disorders like type 1 diabetes, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis.
Currently, we are also conducting several different clinical trials testing novel
approaches to improve outcomes in kidney and pancreatic islet transplantation.
For more details, see links above for Diabetes, Pancreatitis and Kidney Tx.
Thank you for your interest in our research.
Piotr Witkowski M.D. Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Surgery
Director, Pancreatic Islet Transplantation Program
Director, Transplant Surgery Fellowship Program
Director, Polish- American Transplant Center
Transplantation Institute
University of Chicago Medicine
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