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Fadi Lakkis, MD

  • Frank & Athena Sarris Chair in Transplantation Biology
  • Distinguished Professor of Surgery
  • Professor of Surgery, Immunology and Medicine
  • Scientific Director of the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute

    Education & Training

  • Medical School – American University of Beirut, Lebanon - MD
Research Grants

NIH Grants:  R01, R34, U01, U19

Research Summary

Innate and adaptive immune response to transplanted organs and the mechanisms of transplantation tolerance.

Dr. Lakkis studies innate mechanisms responsible for initiating and perpetuating alloimmune responses and the role of memory T cells in allograft rejection. Mouse models of skin, heart, kidney, and islet cell transplantation are used to define these mechanisms. Intravital multiphoton microscopy is used to investigate monocyte and memory T cell migration to the transplanted mouse kidney. Dr. Lakkis is committed to scientific mentoring. His lab offers a superb environment for pediatric subspecialists in many fields, including Solid Organ and Bone Marrow Transplantation, Hematology-Oncology, Immunology, Nephrology, and Pulmonary Medicine.

Representative Publications
  1. Morin-Zorman S, Wysocki C, Zhu J, Li H, Zorman S, Matte-Martone C, Kisanga E, McNiff J, Jain D, Gonzalez D, Rothstein DM, Lakkis FG, Haberman A, Shlomchik WD.  In vivo dynamics of T cells and their interactions with dendritic cells in mouse cutaneous graft-versus-host disease.  Blood Adv. 2019; 3: 2082-2092.
  2. Hughes AD, Zhao D, Dai H, Abou-Daya KI, Tieu R, Rammal R, Williams AL, Shlomchik WD, Morelli AE*, Oberbarnscheidt MH*, Lakkis FG* (co-senior authors).  Cross-dressed dendritic cells sustain effector T cell responses in islet and kidney allografts.  J. Clin. Invest. 2019, In press.
  3. Dai H, Lakkis FG.  Transplantation Immunobiology.  In Gabriel M. Danovitch (ed). Handbook of Kidney Transplantation; Wolters Kluwer, 6th Ed. 2017; pp 21-45.
  4. Hughes AD, Lakkis FG, Oberbarnscheidt MH. Four-Dimensional Imaging of T Cells in Kidney Transplant Rejection. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2018 Jun;29(6):1596-1600. doi: 10.1681/ASN.2017070800. Epub 2018 Apr 13. PubMed PMID: 29654214; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6054351.
  5. Thomson AW, Humar A, Lakkis FG, Metes DM. Regulatory dendritic cells for promotion of liver transplant operational tolerance: Rationale for a clinical trial and accompanying mechanistic studies. Hum Immunol. 2018 May;79(5):314-321. doi: 10.1016/j.humimm.2017.10.017. Epub 2017 Oct 31. Review. PubMed PMID: 29100944; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5924712.
  6. Dai H, Friday AJ, Abou-Daya KI, Williams AL, Mortin-Toth S, Nicotra ML, Rothstein DM, Shlomchik WD, Matozaki T, Isenberg JS, Oberbarnscheidt MH, Danska JS, Lakkis FG. Donor SIRPα polymorphism modulates the innate immune response to allogeneic grafts. Sci Immunol. 2017 Jun 23;2(12). pii: eaam6202. doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.aam6202. PubMed PMID: 28783664; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5653256.
  7. Lakkis FG, Li XC. Innate allorecognition by monocytic cells and its role in graft rejection. Am J Transplant. 2018 Feb;18(2):289-292. doi: 10.1111/ajt.14436. Epub 2017 Aug 24. Review. PubMed PMID: 28722285; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5775052.
  8. Boyette LB, Macedo C, Hadi K, Elinoff BD, Walters JT, Ramaswami B, Chalasani G, Taboas JM, Lakkis FG, Metes DM. Phenotype, function, and differentiation potential of human monocyte subsets. PLoS One. 2017 Apr 26;12(4):e0176460. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176460. eCollection 2017. PubMed PMID: 28445506; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5406034.
  9. Moore CA, Iasella CJ, Venkataramanan R, Lakkis FG, Smith RB, McDyer JF, Zeevi A Ensor CR. Janus kinase inhibition for immunosuppression in solid organ transplantation: Is there a role in complex immunologic challenges? Hum Immunol. 2017 Feb;78(2):64-71. doi: 10.1016/j.humimm.2016.12.005. Epub 2016 Dec 18. Review. PubMed PMID: 27998802.