Jakub Tolar, M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Mayo Mail Code 366
420 Delaware St. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Phone: (612) 626-5501
Fax: (612) 624-3913
tolar003@umn.edu
Preferred method of contact:  Through assistant Aandra Erikson (612) 626-5501

Dr. Tolar is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota in the Division of Hematology-Oncology and Blood and Marrow Transplantation, and attends on both the Pediatric Hematology Oncology and the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplantation service. He received his M.D. from Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, and his Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology and Genetics from the University of Minnesota. He completed a residency in Pediatrics and a fellowship in hematology/oncology and bone marrow transplantation at the University of Minnesota. He is board certified in Pediatrics and Hematology/Oncology. Dr. Tolar serves on the Program Committee and Non-Immune Cytopenias Committee of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology since May 2004.

Dr Tolar has been interested in the use of hematopoietic transplantation for bone marrow failure (e.g., aplastic anemia and dyskeratosis congenita) and metabolic disorders (e.g., mucopolysaccharidosis type I and adrenoleukodystrophy).

Dr. Tolar's research focuses on the use of bone marrow derived stem cells and Sleeping Beauty transposon gene therapy for correction of genetic diseases and improving outcome of blood and marrow transplantation.

Honors and Awards

• 1990 Magna Cum Laude, 1st Medical School, Charles University
• 1990 Academic Achievement Award of the Chancellor
• 1995 National Cancer Institute Award
• 2002 Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Post-Doctoral Fellowship of the Amy Strelzer Manasevit Scholars Program
• 2003 Masonic Dietz Family Award
• 2003 Margaret Kendrick Hostetter MD Award for Research in Pediatric Subspeciality Training (1st place Fellow Research Symposium)
• 2003 American Society of Clinical Oncology Young Investigator Award
• 2003-2005 NIH/NICHD Child Health Research Scholar
• 2005 University Pediatrics Foundation Scholar

Research Interests

1. Sleeping Beauty transposons - Gene therapy.

   Transposons are gene elements that can move from one location in genome to another. Our goal is to establish whether gene transfer mediated by transposons is safe and efficient.

2. Multipotent Adult Progenitor Cells (MAPC) and Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC) - Cellular therapy.

   MAPC and MSC are cells derived from adult bone marrow. In contrast to blood forming cells in bone marrow, MAPC and MSC can significantly contribute to multiple organs, such as liver, lung, heart, intestine, and brain. We aim to determine if MAPC and MSC facilitate tissue repair and improve overall survival of patients after chemoradiotherapy regimen in the setting of bone marrow transplantation.

3. Mucopolysaccharidosis type I (Hurler syndrome) - Novel therapies.

   Gene therapy (transposons) and cellular therapy (MAPC/MSC) for organs, such as heart, brain and bone, that are resistant to correction with bone marrow transplantation

Selected Recent Publications

Tolar J, O'shaughnessy MJ, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, McElmurry RT, Bell S, Riddle M, McIvor RS, Yant SR, Kay MA, Krause D, Verfaillie CM, Blazar BR. Related Articles  Host factors that impact the biodistribution and persistence of multipotent adult progenitor cells.
Blood. 2006 Jan 12; [Epub ahead of print]

Tolar J, Osborn M, Bell S, McElmurry R, Xia L, Riddle M, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Jiang Y, McIvor R, Contag C, Yant S, Kay M, Verfaillie C, Blazar B. Real time in vivo imaging of stem cells following transgenesis by transposition. Molecular Therapy, 2005.

Tolar J, Bostrom B, Lee M, Sather, H. Intravenous 6-mercaptopurine decreases salvage after relapse in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a report from the Children's Cancer Group study CCG 1922. Pediatric Blood & Cancer 44:1-5, 2005.

Tolar J, Orchard P. Molecular etiology of human osteopetrosis. N Eng J Med 351(27):2839-49, 2004.

Gamberger D, Lavrac N, Zelezny F, Tolar J. Induction of comprehensible models of gene expression datasets by subgroup discovery methodology. Aug 37(4):269-84, 2004.

Tolar J, Tope W, Neglia JP. Leukotriene receptor inhibition for the treatment of systemic mastocytosis. Letter. N Engl J Med 350:735-6, 2004.

Wagner JE, Tolar J, Levran O, Scholl T, Deffenbaugh A, Satagopan J, Ben-Porat L, Mah K, Dev Batish S, Kutler DI, MacMillan ML, Hanenberg H, Auerbach AD. Germline mutations in BRCA2: shared genetic susceptibility to breast cancer, early onset leukemia and Fanconi anemia. Blood 103: 3226 - 3229, 2004.

Tolar J, Neglia JP. Transplacental and other routes of cancer transmission between individuals: a review of the literature. J Pediatr Hematol Oncol 25:430-4, 2003.

Tolar J, Coad JE, Neglia JP. Transplacental transfer of maternal small cell carcinoma of the lung. N Engl J Med 346:1501-2, 2002.

Tolar J, Coad JE, Ramsay NKC, Peters C, Davies SM. Lymphoproliferative disorder presenting as pulmonary nodules after bone marrow transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplantation, 28:808-10, 2001.

Tolar J, Kravitz G, Walker, K, Moertel CL. Acute polyosteal osteomyelitis in a patient with congenital ichthyosis and acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Pediatr Infec Dis J. 20(8):813-15, 2001.