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Craig Byersdorfer, MD, PhD

  • Assistant Professor, Pediatrics and Immunology

    Education & Training

  • Medical School – Washington University School of Medicine – MD
  • Graduate School – Washington University - PhD
  • Residency – University of Michigan Medical School – Pediatrics
  • Fellowship – University of Michigan Medical School – Pediatric Hematology/Oncology
Research Grants

NIH grants: R01, K08
Foundation grants: Hyundai Hope on Wheels, ASH Scholar, Amy Strelzer-Manasevit
Other grants: Department of Defense

Research Summary

The Byersdorfer Lab studies in vivo T cell metabolism during graft-versus-host disease (GHVD) and in the development of anti-leukemia responses. The lab utilizes mouse models, genetic manipulation, and metabolic analyses to elucidate the role of specific proteins in the metabolic reprogramming of immune cells. Specific projects include using conditional knock-out mice to characterize the role of metabolic enzymes and transcription factors in alloreactive T cells, testing the ability of novel metabolic inhibitors to mitigate GVHD while still preserving anti-leukemia effects, and increasing the in vivo persistence of cancer-targeting T cells by manipulating their metabolic pathways. The Byersdorfer Lab is a dynamic group and welcomes graduate students for rotations and thesis projects, clinical fellows interested in immunology and immune cell metabolism, PSTP/MSTP students, and medical students as a place to conduct their Longitudinal Research Project or as part of the Dean’s Summer Research Program.

Representative Publications
  1. Beezhold K, Byersdorfer CA. Targeting immuno-metabolism to improve anti-cancer therapies. Cancer Lett. 2018. 414:127. PMID: 29126914  
  2. Dolezal JM, Wang H, Kulkarni S, Jackson L, Lu J, Ranganathan S, Goetzman ES, Bharathi S, Beezhold K, Byersdorfer CA, Prochownik EV. Sequential Adaptive Changes in a c-Myc-Driven Model of Hepatocellular Carcinoma. J Biol Chem. 2017. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 28432125  
  3. Tkachev V, Goodell S, Opipari AW, Franchi L, Hao, LY, Glick GD, Ferrara JLM, and Byersdorfer CA, Programmed death-1 controls T cell survival by regulating oxidative metabolism. J Immunol. 2015. 194(12):5789. PMID: 25972478  
  4. G.D. Glick, R. Rossignol, C. A. Lyssiotis, D. Wahl, C. Lesch, B. Sanchez, X. Liu, L.Y. Hao, C. Taylor, A. Hurd, J. LM. Ferrara, V. Tkachev, Byersdorfer CA, L. Boros and A. W. Opipari.  Anaplerotic metabolism of alloreactive T cells provides a metabolic approach to treat graft-versus-host disease. J. Pharm. Exp. Ther. 2014. 351(2):298. PMID: 25125579
  5. Byersdorfer CA, Tkachev V, Opipari AW, Goodell S, Swanson J, Sandquist S, Glick GD, and JLM Ferrara. Effector T cells require fatty acid metabolism during murine graft-versus-host disease. Blood. 2013. 122(18):3230-3237. PMID: 24046012