Thomas H. Tung, M.D.

DEPARTMENT OF Surgery
Keywords: costimulation blockade, limb transplantation, composite tissue transplantation, hand transplantation, transplantation immunology

Dr. Tung’s laboratory is focused on limb and composite tissue transplantation and complements the research of Dr. Susan Mackinnon in nerve transplantation. Dr. Tung has developed a murine model of heterotopic vascularized limb transplantation that has become the basis of a NIH K08 grant, as well as funding from the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation and the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Previous work has studied the concept of differential antigenicity of limb tissue components and the efficacy of costimulation blockade in composite tissue transplantation. Many projects are also undertaken in collaboration with Dr. Mackinnon. Basic techniques used in this laboratory include microneurovascular surgery, bone marrow transplantation, mixed lymphocyte culture, flow cytometry, the enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay and PCR.