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Qizhi Tang, Ph.D.

Qizhi Tang, Ph.D.

  • Professor of Surgery
  • Division of Transplant Surgery
  • Director, Transplantation Research Laboratory

Contact Information

(415) 476-1739
(415) 476-0789
(415) 502-8326 Fax
[email protected]
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Education

Peking Union Medical College, China, toward MD, 1984-89

University of South Alabama, toward PhD, Microbiology, 1989-91

University of Illinois at Chicago, Ph.D., Immunology, 1991-96

Postdoctoral Training

  • University of Illinois, Chicago, Postdoctoral Fellow, Immunology, 1996-98
  • University Of Chicago, Postdoctoral Fellow, Immunology, 1998-00
  • University of California, San Francisco, California, Postdoctoral Fellow, Immunology, 2000-02

Research Interests

  • Autoimmunity
  • Immune Tolerance
  • Immunotherapy
  • Islets of Langerhans Transplantation
  • Suppressor-Effector
  • T-Lymphocyte Subsets
  • T-Lymphocytes
  • Transplantation Immunology
  • Transplantation Tolerance

Biography

Dr. Tang attended Peking Union Medical College in China. After completing 5 years of the 8-year MD training, she left the program to pursue graduate education in the US and received her PhD in immunology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She completed postdoctoral fellowships investigating mechanisms of immune tolerance at the University of Chicago and the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Tang joined the faculty at the University of California, San Francisco in 2002 as an Assistant Professor of Pathology in the Diabetes Center where she researched mechanisms of immune tolerance. She joined the Transplantation Division in the Department of Surgery in 2007 to lead basic research and translational research in transplant immunology. She has been the director of the UCSF Transplantation Research Laboratory since 2007 where she leads basic and translational research in transplantation.

A major research focus in the Tang Lab is on regulatory T cell therapy for autoimmune diseases and transplantation. Since 2011, she has also been co-directing the regulatory T cell therapy program at UCSF, which has supported 10 early-phase clinical trials in type 1 diabetes, pemphigus, islet transplantation, kidney transplantation and liver transplantation. Another area of research in the Tang Lab is on optimizing islet transplantation to enable highly efficient immunosuppression-free replacement of pancreatic beta cells for the treatment of type 1 diabetes.

Research & Funding

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ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7313-3574 Additional info
  • Pancreatic Islets and Parathyroid Gland Co-transplantation for Treatment of Diabetes in the Intra-Muscular Site: PARADIGM
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    Jul 2019
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    Jun 2023
    Co-investigator
  • Islet transplant operational tolerance through minimization of ischemic injury and local immune regulation
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    Sep 2019
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    Aug 2021
    PI
  • Novel Therapies to Modulate the Inflammatory Alloresponse in Renal Grafts
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    Jul 2014
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    Jun 2021
    Co-investigator
  • Engineering Treg cells to treat type 1 diabetes
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    Nov 2017
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    Oct 2020
    PI
  • Multiplex in situ gene expression and phenotypical profiling of inflamed tissues
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    Jun 2015
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    May 2020
    Co-Principal Investigator
  • Diabetes Research Center
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    Sep 2002
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    Mar 2020
    Co-Investigator
  • Promoting extrahepatic engraftment of human islets by parathyroid gland co-transplantation
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    Jun 2018
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    May 2019
    PI
  • Donor-Alloantigen-Reactive Regulatory T Cell Therapy in Liver Transplantation
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    Jun 2014
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    May 2019
    Co-Principal Investigator
  • Regulatory 'T' Cell Control of Autoimmune Diabetes.
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    Mar 2010
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    Feb 2016
    Principal Investigator
  • "Regulatory 'T'Cell Control of Autoimmune Diabetes".
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    Mar 2010
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    Feb 2015
    Principal Investigator
  • "Donor-Specific Regulatory T Cell Therapy in Liver Transplantation"
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    Apr 2012
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    Mar 2014
    Co-Principal Investigator
  • Donor-Specific Regulatory T Cell Therapy in Liver Transplantation
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    Apr 2012
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    Mar 2014
    Co-Principal Investigator
  • BD FACS ARIA II CELL SORTER
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    Feb 2010
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    Jan 2011
    Principal Investigator
  • Visualizing regulatory T cell control of autoimmunity
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    Jul 2005
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    Jun 2008
    Principal Investigator
  • T CELL ACTIVATION AND ANERGY INDUCTION BY ANTI-CD3
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    Feb 2000
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    Jan 0001
    Principal Investigator

Clinical Trials

Data provided by UCSF Profiles, powered by CTSI

Publications

MOST RECENT PUBLICATIONS FROM A TOTAL OF 122
Data provided by UCSF Profiles, powered by CTSI
  1. Hadley P, Chen Y, Cline L, Han Z, Tang Q, Huang X, Desai T. Precise surface functionalization of PLGA particles for human T cell modulation. Nat Protoc. 2023 Oct 18. View in PubMed
  2. Xu H, Yang H, Wang Z, Tang Q, Cao X, Chen C, Dong Y, Xu Z, Lv D, Rong Y, Chen M, Tang B, Deng W, Zhu J, Hu Z. Epidermal stem cell derived exosomes alleviate excessive autophagy induced endothelial cell apoptosis by delivering miR200b-3p to diabetic wounds. J Invest Dermatol. 2023 Oct 12. View in PubMed
  3. Kim EJ, Chen C, Gologorsky R, Santandreu A, Torres A, Wright N, Goodin MS, Moyer J, Chui BW, Blaha C, Brakeman P, Vartanian S, Tang Q, David Humes H, Fissell WH, Roy S. Feasibility of an implantable bioreactor for renal cell therapy using silicon nanopore membranes. Nat Commun. 2023 08 29; 14(1):4890. View in PubMed
  4. Obarorakpor N, Patel D, Boyarov R, Amarsaikhan N, Cepeda JR, Eastes D, Robertson S, Johnson T, Yang K, Tang Q, Zhang L. Regulatory T cells targeting a pathogenic MHC class II: Insulin peptide epitope postpone spontaneous autoimmune diabetes. Front Immunol. 2023; 14:1207108. View in PubMed
  5. Tang Q. Regulatory T cells aid stem-cell therapy for Parkinson's disease. Nature. 2023 Jul; 619(7970):470-472. View in PubMed
  6. View All Publications

In the News

  • Adam Oskowitz, MD, PhD Awarded $400,000 R21 Trailblazer Award

    UCSF Division of Vascular & Endovascular Surgery - Lauren Washburn - April 09, 2020
    Adam Oskowitz, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Vascular & Endovascular Surgery, has been awarded an R21 Trailblazer Award by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, a 3-year grant that supports high-risk, high-impact research. The goals for the research grant are to generate a Chimeric Antigen Receptor to direct T-regulatory cells to injured aortic tissue, and reduce the vascular inflammation that results in abdominal aortic aneurysm growth and [...]

  • Diverse Group of Researchers Help Pioneer Novel Approach to Treating Type 1 Diabetes Using Pancreatic Islets and Parathyroid Gland Co-Transplantation

    UCSF News Services - Shelley Wong - June 13, 2019
    Researcher of the Month: Peter Stock, MD, PhD As a pivotal figure in HIV-to-HIV organ transplantation and its legalization through the passage of the HIV Organ Policy Equity (HOPE) Act, transplant surgeon Peter G. Stock, MD., PhD., continues to strive toward breakthroughs in research. While Stock is mostly known for his HIV transplantation work, he has been investigating pancreatic islet transplantation (also known as beta cell replacement) to cure type 1 diabetes since his days as a PhD [...]

  • Qizhi Tang, Ph.D. One of Featured Speakers at 1st Annual UCSF Immuno"XX": Women in Immunology Symposium

    UCSF Transplantation Research Lab - Richard Barg - October 19, 2018
    Immunologist Qizhi Tang, Ph.D., professor and director of the Department of Surgery's Transplantation Research Lab and Tang Lab, is one of the featured speakers at the first annual UCSF Immuno"XX": Women in Immunology Symposium on October 22, 2018 and will lead the session on Tolerance and Immunity.   Immuno"XX" is focused on two goals: 1) providing a platform to highlight female scientists from UCSF, and 2) building a community of female immunologists to facilitate collaborations and provide [...]

  • Leonardo Ferreira Receives Best Poster Award from Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies

    UCSF Tang Lab - Richard Barg - July 11, 2017
    Leo In SCRB
    Leonardo M.R. Ferreira, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar and molecular immunologist in the Tang Lab and Bluestone Lab at UCSF, received the "Best Poster Award" from the Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) at the organization's 2017 annual meeting in Chicago. The Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies (FOCIS) exists to improve human health through immunology by fostering interdisciplinary approaches to both understand and treat immune-based diseases.  Dr. Ferreira also [...]

  • UCSF Researchers Reappraise Treatment for Gastroschisis, Shining Light on Role of Immune System

    UCSF Pediatric Surgery - Richard Barg - May 24, 2016
    UCSF News reports on the work of a UCSF research team investigating the causes and potential treatments for gastroschisis, a rare disorder in which developing intestines protrude outside of the body through a hole alongside the belly button. Led by pediatric surgeon Tippi MacKenzie, MD, Associate Professor of Surgery in the UCSF Division of Pediatric Surgery and co-Director of the UCSF Center for Maternal-Fetal Precision Medicine, the team published findings elucidating the role of the immune [...]

  • ASTS Awards Qizhi Tang, Ph.D. Faculty Research Grant for Biomarker Discovery and Functional Genomics

    UCSF Transplant Surgery - May 05, 2015
    The American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) has awarded Qizhi Tang, Ph.D.,  Associate Professor in the Division of Transplant Surgery at UCSF, and Director of the Transplantation Research Laboratory and Tang Laboratory, was awarded a Faculty Research Grant for Biomarker Discovery and Functional Genomics, The details were published online by Transplant Genomics Inc. (TGI) which is the sponsor if the grant:  The American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) announced that Qizhi Tang, [...]

  • New Organ Transplant Strategy Aims to Better Prevent Rejection

    UCSF Transplant Surgery - March 10, 2014
    UCSF News reports on the work of  Qizhi Tang, Ph.D., and other UC San Francisco researchers to develop new organ transplant strategies that better prevent rejection of donated organs. The research of Dr. Tang, Associate Professor in the Division of Transplant Surgery, and Director of the Transplantation Research Lab and Tang Lab, and colleagues, is reported on in two recently published journal articles. "Organ-transplant recipients often reject donated organs, but a new, two-pronged strategy [...]

  • Mother’s Stem Cells Likely Key To Treating Genetic Disease Before Birth

    UCSF Pediatric Surgery - January 18, 2011
    UCSF News reports on fetal stem cell transplantation, taking healthy cells from the bone marrow of a donor, and transplanting them into the fetus through ultrasound-guided injections with the goal of having the implanted cells, or graft, replenish the patient's supply of healthy blood-forming cells. UCSF researchers have tackled a decade-long scientific conundrum, and their discovery is expected to lead to significant advances in using stem cells to treat genetic diseases before birth. [...]

 

 
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