Research Program: Transplant Biology & Therapy
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine
McKnight Land-Grant Professor
Associate Director, Stem Cell Institute

kaufm020@umn.edu
612-624-0922 — office
612-626-4758 — lab
Preferred method of contact: e-mail

Dr. Kaufman's clinical profile
(University of Minnesota Physicians Web site)

Dr. Kaufman is an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Hematology, Oncology, and Transplantation and associate director of the Stem Cell Institute at the University of Minnesota. He received his M.D. from Mayo Medical School and Ph.D. in immunology from Mayo Graduate School. He conducted his residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in hematology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. At the University of Wisconsin, he also conducted postdoctoral research with Dr. James Thomson, where he was the first to derive blood cells from human embryonic stem cells. Since 2002, Dr. Kaufman has been at the University of Minnesota, where he continues this research on hematopoiesis from human stem cells as a means to better understand and treat patients with hematologic malignancies

Research Interests

Dr. Kaufman's research interests focus on hematopoietic, vascular and osteogenic cell development from human pluripotent stem cells. This research uses both embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to define developmental pathways and genetic/cellular mechanisms that mediate production of human blood cells and related cell lineages. Additionally, his lab is now working to translate these intriguing studies into clinically applicable conditions suitable for clinical trials. Human ESCs and iPSCs cells offer a unique model to investigate basic developmental biology and serve as a therapeutic cell source to replace or repair cells or tissues damaged by disease or other degenerative processes. Visit the Kaufman lab website for more information.

Selected Publications

Kaufman DS, Schoon RA, Robertson MJ, Leibson PJ. Inhibition of selective signaling events in NK cells recognizing major histocompatibility complex class I. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 1995; 92: 6484-6488.

Odorico JS, Kaufman DS, Thomson JA. Multilineage differentiation from human embryonic stem cell lines. Stem Cells. 2001;19:193-204.

Kaufman DS, Hanson ET, Lewis RL, Auerbach R, Thomson JA. Hematopoietic colony-forming cells derived from human embryonic stem cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2001; 98:10716-10721.

Kaufman DS. A scientific rationale for human embryonic stem cell research. Yale J Health Policy Law Ethics. 2002; 2:177-187.

Kaufman DS, Lewis RL, Hanson ET, Auerbach R, Plendl J, Thomson JA.  Functional endothelial cells derived from Rhesus monkey embryonic stem cells.  Blood 2004; 103:1325-1332.

Lakshmipathy U, Pelacho B, Sudo K, Linehan JL, Coucouvanis E, Kaufman DS, Verfaillie CM.  Efficient transfection of embryonic and adult stem cells.  Stem Cells 2004; 22:101-115.

Woll PS, Martin CH, Miller JS, Kaufman DS. Human embryonic stem cell-derived NK cells acquire functional receptors and cytolytic activity.  J Immunol.y 2005;175: 5095-5103.

Tian X, Woll PS, Morris JK, Linehan JL, Kaufman DS. Hematopietic engraftment of human embryonic stem cell-derived blood cells is regulated by host innate immunity. Stem Cells 2006;24:1370-80.

Cameron CM, Hu W-S, Kaufman DS. Improved development of human embryonic stem cell-derived embryoid bodies by stirred vessel cultivation. Biotechnol Bioeng. 2006;94:938-948.

Martin Colin H, Woll PS, Zúñiga-Pflucker JC, Kaufman DS. Differences in lymphocyte developmental potential between human embryonic stem cell and umbilical cord blood-derived hematopoietic progenitor cells. Blood. 2008;112:2730-2737.

Woll PS, Morris JK, Painschab MS, Marcus RK, Kohn AD, Biechele TL, Moon RT, Kaufman DS. Wnt signaling promotes hemato-endothelial cell development from human embryonic stem cells. Blood 2008;111:122-131.

Tian Xinghui, Kaufman DS. Differentiation of embryonic stem cells towards hematopoietic cells: Progress and Pitfalls. Curr Opin Hematol. 2008;15:312-318. Review.

Kaufman DS. Toward clinical therapies using hematopoietic cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells. Blood. 2009;114:3513-323.

Tian X, Hexum MK, Penchev VR, Taylor RJ, Shultz LD, Kaufman DS. Bioluminescent imaging demonstrates that transplanted human embryonic stem cell-derived CD34(+) cells preferentially develop into endothelial cells. Stem Cells. 2009;27:2675-2685.

Gori JL, Tian X, Swanson D, Gunther R, Shultz LD, McIvor RS, Kaufman DS. In vivo selection of human embryonic stem cell-derived cells expressing methotrexate-resistant dihydrofolate reductase. Gene Ther. 2010;17:238-249.

Islam MS, Ni Z, Kaufman DS. Use of human embryonic stem cells to understand hematopoiesis and hematopoietic stem cell niche. Curr Stem Cell Res Ther. 2010;5:245-250.

Hill KL, Obrtlikova P, Alvarez DF, King JA, Keirstead SA, Allred JR, Kaufman DS. Human embryonic stem cell-derived vascular progenitor cells capable of endothelial and smooth muscle cell function. Exp Hematol. 2010;3:246-257.

Kopher RA, Penchev VR, Islam MS, Hill KL, Khosla S, Kaufman DS. Human embryonic stem cell-derived CD34+ cells function as MSC progenitor cells. Bone. 2010;47:718-728.

Knorr DA, Kaufman DS. Pluripotent stem cell-derived natural killer cells for cancer therapy. Transl Res. 2010;156:147-154.

Kaufman DS. HIF hits Wnt in the stem cell niche. Nat Cell Biol. 2010;12:926-927.

Ni Z, Knorr DA, Clouser CL, Hexum MK, Southern P, Mansky LM, Park IH, Kaufman DS. Human pluripotent stem cells produce natural killer cells that mediate anti-HIV-1 activity by utilizing diverse cellular mechanisms. J Virol. 2011;85:43-50.

Xiong Q, Hill KL, Li Q, Suntharalingam P, Mansoor A, Wang X, Jameel MN, Zhang P, Swingen C, Kaufman DS, Zhang J. A fibrin patch-based enhanced delivery of human embryonic stem cell-derived vascular cell transplantation in a porcine model of postinfarction left ventricular remodeling. Stem Cells. 2011;29:367-375.

Solh M, Defor TE, Weisdorf DJ, Kaufman DS. Extramedullary relapse of acute myelogenous leukemia after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell rransplantation: Better prognosis than systemic relapse. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2011. [Epub ahead of print].