Principal Investigator Profile

Prof. Matthew Griffin

Biography

Prof. Matthew Griffin graduated with an honours MB, BCh, BAO from University College Cork in 1988. After an internship at Cork Regional Hospital he trained in Internal Medicine and Nephrology in the Dublin Federated Voluntary Hospitals between 1989 and 1992 and then at Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota, USA between 1989 and 1997. From 1997 to 1999 he completed a Mayo Clinic Scholarship in basic immunology in the laboratory of Dr. Jeffrey Bluestone at the University of Chicago before returning to join of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension and the William J von Liebig Transplant Centre at Mayo Clinic in 1999. Between then and 2008 he was a Consultant Nephrologist specialising in Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation, an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Program Director of the Transplant Medicine Fellowship and director of a NIH-funded research laboratory. In 2004 he received the Mayo Clinic Department of Medicine New Investigator Award. 

In July 2008 he returned to Ireland to take up the position of Professor of Transplant Biology at the National University of Ireland, Galway and Consultant Nephrologist at Galway University Hospitals in Ireland. He directs a laboratory programme in immunology and transplant biology that is funded by Science Foundation Ireland and is affiliated with the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at NUI Galway.  He has a wide range of research interests in clinical and basic research including human organ transplantation and immunosuppression, living kidney donation, transplant immunology, dendritic cell biology, acute kidney injury, the pathophysiology of renal injury and the application of stem cell therapy to renal disease. He has authored over 80 peer review manuscripts and is a member of the Editorial Boards of the journals Kidney International and Transplantation.

Research Area:

• Immunology of Acute Kidney Injury
• Immunological Properties of Mesenchymal Stem Cells
• Immunomodulatory Effects of Vitamin D
• Pathogenesis of Kidney Transplant Fibrosis
• Clinical Outcomes of Kidney Transplantation
• Polyomavirus-associated Nephropathy

Current Projects:

1. Immune-Parenchymal Interface in the Kidney: Funded by Science Foundation Ireland P1 Award.
2. Immune Properties of Mesenchymal Stem Cells: Collaboration with REMEDI CSET.
3. Oral Paricalcitol in Kidney Transplant Recipients Receiving a Corticosteroid-free Immunosuppressive Regimen: Clinical trial funded by Abbott Laboratories and based at Mayo Clinic, USA.
4. Molecular Pathogenesis of Kidney Transplant Fibrosis: Collaboration with Kidney Transplant Program, Mayo Clinic, USA.

List of Publications:

Dong X, Lutz W, Schroeder TM, Bachman LA, Westendorf JJ, Kumar R, Griffin MD. Regulation of relB in dendritic cells via modulated association of vitamin D receptor and histone deacetylase 3 with the promoter. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2005, 102:16007-16012.

Wadei HM, Rule AD, Lewin M, Mahale AS, Khamash HA, Schwab TR, Gloor JM, Textor SC, Fidler ME, Lager DJ, Larson TS, Stegall MD, Cosio FG, Griffin MD. Kidney transplant function and histological clearance of virus following diagnosis of polyomavirus-associated nephropathy (PVAN). Am J Transplant, 6:1025-1032, 2006.

Fife BT, Griffin MD, Abbas AK, Locksley RM, Bluestone JA. Inhibition of T cell activation and autoimmune diabetes using a B cell surface-linked CTLA-4 agonist. J Clin Invest, 2006, 116: 2252-2261 (Commentary by Javeed Ansari M and Sayegh MH, J Clin Invest, 2006, 116: 2080-2083).

Khamash HA, Wadei HM, Mahale AS, Larson TS, Stegall MD, Cosio FG, Griffin MD. Influence of Recipient Age and Donor Gender on Polyomavirus-associated Nephropathy Risk in Recent Kidney Transplants. Kidney Int, 71:1302-1309, 2007.

Park WD, Griffin MD, Grande JP, Cosio FG, Stegall MD. Molecular evidence of injury and inflammation in normal and fibrotic renal allografts one year post-transplant. Transplantation, 83:1466-1476, 2007.

Cosio FG, Hickson LJ, Griffin MD, Stegall MD, Kudva YG. Patient survival and cardiovascular risk after kidney transplantation: The challenge of diabetes. Am J Transplant, 8:593-599, 2008.

Dong X, Swaminathan S, Bachman LA, Croatt AJ, Nath KA, Griffin MD. Resident dendritic cells are the predominant TNF-secreting cell in early renal ischemia-reperfusion injury. Kidney Int. 2007, 71:619-628 (Commentary by Nelson PJ, Kidney Int. 2007, 71:604-605.)

Hickson LJ, Cosio FG, El-Zoghby Z, Gloor JM, Stegall MD, Griffin MD, Jaffe AS. Survival of patients on the kidney transplant wait list: relationship to cardiac troponin T. Am J Transplant, 8:2352-2359, 2008.

Dong X, Bachman LA, Miller MN, Nath KA, Griffin MD. A role for dendritic cells in the inflammatory response and influx of IL-17 T-cells following acute renal obstruction. Kidney Int, 74:1294-1309 2008.

Hickson LJ, Gera M, Amer H, Iqbal CW, Moore TB, Milliner DS, Cosio FG, Larson TS, Stegall MD, Ishitani MB, Gloor JM, Griffin MD. Kidney transplantation for primary focal segmental glomerulosclerosis: Outcomes and response to therapy for recurrence. Transplantation, In Press.

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