Eric Wieder a Associate Professors of Medicine in the department of Hematology/Oncology from The University of Miami Health System Eric Wieder a Associate Professors of Medicine in the department of Hematology/Oncology from The University of Miami Health System

Current research interests are in immunology in the context of stem cell transplantation. My expertise is in complex multi-color flow cytometry and in assays of immune function. The goal of my work is to improve general immune recovery after stem cell transplant for various hematologic cancers. Graft-versus-leukemia effects need to be preserved and improved while reducing graft-versus-host disease. This can be accomplished through graft engineering and my lab is working on a strategy for depleting allo-reactive T cells from donor grafts prior to transplant by a cell sorting approach. Also, a major problem for cancer patients who could potentially benefit from stem cell transplant is the lack of a suitable donor. Cord blood (CB) has been used as a source of stem cells for transplant, but we previously found that immune recovery is very slow in patients transplanted with CB stem cells. Thymic output was impaired in CB transplant patients. Using a 9-color flow cytometry approach to determining T cell differentiation, we also found reconstituted T cells in CB patients were highly enriched for late memory T cells (which are not good at proliferating) compared to other transplant patients. My lab is currently researching strategies to improve both thymic output and T cell function in those patients. Finally, regulatory T cells (Tregs) represent an intriguing immunotherapeutic tool to suppress graft-versus-host disease and our group will investigate whether Tregs can be used as part of a stem cell product or given to patients with graft-versus-host disease to improve outcomes after stem cell transplant.