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Stuart Johnston Knechtle, MD

William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor
Professor of Surgery
Adjunct Professor in the Department of Medicine
Division: 
Abdominal Transplant Surgery
Program: 
Abdominal Transplant Surgery Fellowship
General Surgery Residency Program

During my career as an academic surgeon, I have had the privilege of leading and/or participating in a diverse portfolio of hypothesis-driven research projects.  These projects have centered on the immunology of surgery and transplantation, including both cellular and antibody-mediated immune responses.  During my training I studied the response of hyper-sensitized recipients to allogeneic liver transplantation, and am currently studying means of reducing immunologic memory that might allow more successful transplantation in sensitized recipients.  This immune response involves pathways of coagulation, antibody-mediated rejection, and cellular rejection and current work in my lab involves these three pathways.  The other major focuses of my work have been co-stimulation blockade and immune cell depletion as approaches to immunologic unresponsiveness or tolerance.  My research group has been involved in translational and clinical research to develop these mechanistic tools for the benefit of human organ transplant recipients.

Recent Publications

Knechtle SJ, Shaw JM, Hering BJ, Kraemer K, Madsen JC. Translational impact of NIH-funded nonhuman primate research in transplantation. Sci Transl Med. 2019 Jul 10;11(500). pii: eaau0143. Reprint | Full Text

Education and Training

  • Transplant Fellow, Surgery, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1989 - 1991
  • Residency, Surgery, Duke University School of Medicine, 1982 - 1989
  • M.D., Cornell University, Weill Medical College, 1982

In the News

Selected Grants

Publications

Song, Shengli, Miriam Manook, Jean Kwun, Annette M. Jackson, Stuart J. Knechtle, and Garnett Kelsoe. “A cell-based multiplex immunoassay platform using fluorescent protein-barcoded reporter cell lines.” Commun Biol 4, no. 1 (November 25, 2021): 1338. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02881-w.

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Shaw, Brian I., Vincenzo Villani, Samuel J. Kesseli, Chloe Nobuhara, Mariya L. Samoylova, Dimitrios Moris, Bradley H. Collins, et al. “A Historical Cohort in Kidney Transplantation: 55-Year Follow-Up of 72 HLA-Identical, Donor-Recipient Pairs.” Journal of Clinical Medicine 10, no. 23 (November 24, 2021). https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10235505.

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Schmitz, Robin, Zachary W. Fitch, Paul M. Schroder, Ashley Y. Choi, Miriam Manook, Janghoon Yoon, Mingqing Song, et al. “C3 complement inhibition prevents antibody-mediated rejection and prolongs renal allograft survival in sensitized non-human primates.” Nat Commun 12, no. 1 (September 15, 2021): 5456. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25745-7.

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Jelly, Evan T., Jean Kwun, Robin Schmitz, Alton B. Farris, Zachary A. Steelman, Debra L. Sudan, Stuart J. Knechtle, and Adam Wax. “Optical coherence tomography of small intestine allograft biopsies using a handheld surgical probe.” J Biomed Opt 26, no. 9 (September 2021). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.26.9.096008.

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Kesseli, Samuel J., Jared N. Gloria, Nader Abraham, Samantha E. Halpern, Greta N. Cywinska, Min Zhang, Dimitrios Moris, et al. “Point-of-Care Assessment of DCD Livers During Normothermic Machine Perfusion in a Nonhuman Primate Model.” Hepatology Communications 5, no. 9 (September 2021): 1527–42. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep4.1734.

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Olaso, Danae, Miriam Manook, Dimitrios Moris, Stuart Knechtle, and Jean Kwun. “Optimal Immunosuppression Strategy in the Sensitized Kidney Transplant Recipient.” Journal of Clinical Medicine 10, no. 16 (August 18, 2021). https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm10163656.

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Halpern, Samantha E., Dimitrios Moris, Brian I. Shaw, Samuel J. Kesseli, Mariya L. Samoylova, Miriam Manook, Robin Schmitz, et al. “Definition and Analysis of Textbook Outcome: A Novel Quality Measure in Kidney Transplantation.” World Journal of Surgery 45, no. 5 (May 2021): 1504–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-020-05943-y.

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Knechtle, Stuart J., Danielle Niedfeldt, Debra Sudan, Annette Jackson, Ian Jamieson, Matthew Hartwig, and Carmelo Milano. “Another Step Toward Becoming a Transplant Community.” Ann Surg 273, no. 4 (April 1, 2021): e149–50. https://doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0000000000004472.

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Song, Shengli, Miriam Manook, Jean Kwun, Annette M. Jackson, Stuart J. Knechtle, and Garnett Kelsoe. “Allo-Specific Humoral Responses: New Methods for Screening Donor-Specific Antibody and Characterization of HLA-Specific Memory B Cells.” Front Immunol 12 (2021): 705140. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.705140.

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Choi, Ashley Y., Miriam Manook, Danae Olaso, Brian Ezekian, Jaeberm Park, Kyle Freischlag, Annette Jackson, Stuart Knechtle, and Jean Kwun. “Emerging New Approaches in Desensitization: Targeted Therapies for HLA Sensitization.” Front Immunol 12 (2021): 694763. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.694763.

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