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Piotr Witkowski Laboratory

since 2009

Pancreatic Islets 
Kidney Transplantation
Immune Regulatory T Cell Therapy

 

WELCOME TO 

THE FOREFRONT

stacy movie.jpg

 

October , 2019

 

Stacy celebrates 5 years off insulin after   islet transplantation.  

She has been not only insulin free but also free of worry about her blood sugar lows and highs!

Dr. Piotr Witkowski

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 14 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, PAncreas and Pancreatic Islet Transplantation Program
Director, Transplant Surgery Fellowship Program
Director, Polish-American Transplant Center
 
Transplantation Institute
University of Chicago Medicine

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