Makiko Kumagai-Braesch

About me

Makiko Kumagai was interested in the field of transplantation immunology through her surgical experience in Japan. She learned experimental methods of immunology and molecular biology at Karolinska Institutet and also at Pathology Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard, Boston, USA.

She received her PhD from Karolinska Institutet, Clinical Immunology (1998) with a project of immunological characterization of pig to human xenotransplantation. The last 15 years, she has worked in the research laboratory of Division of Transplantation Surgery with main focus of improvement of efficacy of pancreatic islet transplantation (P.I. Torbjörn Lundgren). During the last five years she is also involved in the project of tolerance induction in organ transplantation (P.I. Bo-Göran Ericzon).

Research description

1. Experimental pancreatic islet transplantation; Focus on various strategies to improve efficacy of pancreatic islet transplantation using rodent models.
2. Cell therapy for tolerance induction in organ-transplantation; Development of culture methods of donor specific immunomodulatory cells and Immunological characterization of the generated cells in vitro.
3. Functional characterization of apolipoproteins in serum and in human cellular responses.

Teaching portfolio

Transplantation Immunology, Experimental pancreatic islet transplantation, Cell therapy for tolerance induction in organ-transplantation

Education

MD (1986, Tohoku University, Sendai Japan)

PhD (1998, Karolinska Institutet, Clinical Immunology, Sweden)