Jakub Tolar, M.D./Ph.D., Stem Cell Institute at the University of Minnesota

tolar003@umn.edu

Education

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'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.

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, 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 12(1):42-8, 2005.

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. Host factors that impact the biodistribution and persistence of Multipotent Adult Progenitor Cells. Blood. May 15;107(10):4182-8, 2006.

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. N Engl J Med 350:735-6, 2004.

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