Yamada Lab

Dr. Yamada's research focuses principally on finding new means to induce tolerance to allogeneic and xenogeneic organ transplants (interspecies transplantation) in preclinical large animal models, concentrating mainly on the thymus as an agent for tolerance induction. His overarching aim is to elucidate the mechanisms of immunologic tolerance and to develop strategies to resolve two of the major obstacles to clinical transplantation: the shortage of donor organs and the requirement for continuous post-transplant immunosuppression. Specifically, he has focused on two pre-clinical models, the MHC inbred miniature swine and the nonhuman primate (NHP), which are supported by several NIH grants. He has performed over 1,000 cases of organ transplantation, including kidneys, thymus, heart, lung, and islets, in preclinical models. Notably, he has developed innovative procedures for the induction of tolerance by transplanting thymus or islets as a vascularized graft, so called the vascularized thymic lobe (VTL), thymokidney (TK), islet-kidney (IK) and thymo-islet-kidney (TIK) grafts in preclinical models of MHC inbred swine and non-human primate.