About

Since its establishment in 1985 as the University of Pittsburgh Transplantation Institute, the mission of the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute (STI) has been to improve the clinical, scientific, and social aspects of transplantation.  The breadth and depth of STI's efforts to develop innovative forms of transplantation distinguishes this transplant program from any other.  STI is a leading international resource dedicated to helping people with end-stage organ failure; its comprehensive approach has kept STI consistently at the forefront of this lifesaving field. Renamed in 1996 in honor of Thomas E. Starzl, MD, PhD, STI has remained at the forefront of solid organ transplantation research for more than two decades. Dr. Starzl and his colleagues in Pittsburgh have expanded the frontiers of transplantation by pioneering such developments as cyclosporine and tacrolimus (formerly FK506), two key immunosuppressants, and the concepts of small-bowel and multi-organ transplantation.

At the University of Pittsburgh and the UPMC Health System, STI promotes a multidisciplinary environment that unites basic and clinical research with a multidisciplinary cadre of transplantation professionals includes surgeons, gastroenterologists/hepatologists, anesthesiologists, pathologists, nephrologists, immunologists, infectious disease specialists, and critical care physicians. Research faculty come from a variety of disciplines including immunology, molecular biology, genetics, cell physiology, and other biological sciences. The research faculty and staff of STI bring expertise from multiple disciplines including immunology, surgery, pathology, nephrology, hepatology, molecular biology, genetics, and cell physiology.

Through the use of invertebrates, rodents, and large animal models, STI research teams explore fundamental questions in the following areas: innate immunity, dendritic cell immunobiology, adaptive immunity, xenotransplantation, cell transplantation, composite tissue transplantation, liver transplant biology, and viral infections in immunocompromised hosts. STI's clinical research programs focus on developing immunological monitoring strategies and conducting clinical trials to minimize immunosuppression, with the ultimate goal of achieving transplantation tolerance. STI continues its commitment to finding solutions to the field's most challenging problems, such as the mysteries of the immune system, the critically short supply of donor organs, safer immunosuppression, organ preservation, and the multiple problems associated with rejection.