Personnel
Faculty
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Read More about James F Markmann, MD, PhDJames F Markmann, MD, PhD
Principal Investigator
Email James F Markmann, MD, PhD
James F Markmann, MD, PhD Website
James F Markmann, MD, PhD
Principal Investigator
Home | Markmann and Lei Lab | Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
James F Markmann, MD, PhD Website
Dr. James F. Markmann, MD, PhD, rejoined Penn in December 2023 as President of the Transplant Institute and Vice Chair of Transplantation in the Department of Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He specializes in liver, kidney, pancreas, and islet transplantation. Dr. Markmann completed his MD, PhD in Immunology, and surgical residency training at The University of Pennsylvania under Chairman Clyde F. Barker, after which he did a Transplant Surgery Fellowship at the University of California Los Angeles to specialize in liver transplantation. He is active in numerous societies, editorial boards, and organizations. He is the Past President of the International Pancreas and Islet Transplant Association and is President-Elect for the American Society of Transplant Surgeons 2024. His research interests include immune tolerance by regulatory B cells, ex vivo organ perfusion, stem cell-derived islet cell transplantation, immune tolerance, and xenotransplantation. He has published over 450 scientific papers over the last 30 years and has held continuous NIH funding for over 20 years.
Education
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Research Interests
Liver perfusion; liver preservation; liver transplantation; organ transplantation; regulatory B cells; tissue preservation; transplantation for Type 1 diabetes; transplantation tolerance; Treg induced tolerance; xenotransplantation.
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Read More about Ji Lei, MSc, MD, MBAJi Lei, MSc, MD, MBA
Principal Investigator
Email Ji Lei, MSc, MD, MBA
617-643-5327
Ji Lei, MSc, MD, MBA Website
Ji Lei, MSc, MD, MBA
Principal Investigator
Ji.Lei@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu
617-643-5327
Ji Lei, MSc, MD, MBA Website
Dr. Ji Lei, MSc, MD, MBA, joined the Department of Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania as a faculty member in June 2024. Trained in medicine, research, and business administration, and with over 30 years of international experience in surgery, translational research, and cellular therapy, he brings a unique blend of clinical, scientific, and regulatory expertise to the institution. Dr. Lei began his career as an orthopedic surgeon in China before specializing in cellular therapies, including islet transplantation for type 1 diabetes and chronic pancreatitis, as well as hepatocyte transplantation for patients with end-stage liver failure. His academic path includes research training at the University of Toronto and nearly two decades on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, where he also serves as Director of the Human Cell Processing Special Service cGMP Facility at Massachusetts General Hospital.
He has authored over 90 publications and led pioneering research in transplantation immunology, organ preservation, and biomaterial innovation. His current work, supported by NIH, Breakthrough T1D, and industry grants, focuses on engineering porcine liver for clinical transplantation, developing novel immunomodulatory cells, and advancing beta cell replacement strategies for type 1 diabetes in both clinical and nonhuman primate models.
Education
West China University of Medical Sciences, Canada
University of Toronto, Canada
York University, Canada
Research Interests
Novel stem cell islet development; islet transplantation for T1D; transplantation tolerance; novel immunomodulatory materials; Treg-induced tolerance; xenotransplantation; liver perfusion and preservation; regulatory B cells.
Staff
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Read More about Jing Liu, PhD
Jing Liu, PhD
Senior Research Investigator
jing.liu1@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Jing Liu, Ph.D., specializes in epithelial cell development, regeneration and repair via genetic engineering of rodent models. In 2001, Jing worked at Dr. Jordan Kreidberg's lab at Boston Children’s Hospital as a postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School, focusing on kidney development to tackle the pathogenic mechanism of Wilms’ tumor in children. After that, Jing worked with Dr. Andy McMahon at Harvard University and later moved to the University of Southern California, examining renal cell type-specific gene expression in the murine ischemic acute kidney injury model and human kidney transplants. Jing has authored 19 publications and identified several nephron tubular epithelial origin cytokines and inflammatory pathways that affected the infiltration of lymphocytes after ischemic acute kidney injury post-transplantation. In 2024, Jing joined the Department of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania as a senior staff scientist to investigate immunotherapy.
Education
University of Science and Technology of China
Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Research Interest
Stem cell and regeneration; Synthetic receptor biology; Xeno-transplantation, Gene therapy, Immunotherapy
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Read More about Milan A, Aori, BS
Milan A, Aori, BS
Research Specialist
milan.aori@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Milan A, Aori, BS, is a Research Specialist in the Department of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on xenotransplantation and immunoregulation, particularly in pig liver transplantation and regulatory B cell (Breg) therapies. Milan collaborates on pig liver xenotransplantation studies and has participated in multiple transplantation experiments, performing tissue biopsies and molecular analyses. She is also involved in developing CAR-modified Bregs to enhance immune tolerance in transplantation models. Before joining Penn, she conducted research on oromotor and swallowing disorders in Down Syndrome models and dilated cardiomyopathy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her broader interests include transplant immunology, immune tolerance, and regenerative medicine.
Education
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Research Interests
Xenotransplantation; gene therapy; regulatory B cells; immunotherapy; stem cell and regeneration; pathology
Team Members
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Read More about Anil Kharga, MBBS
Anil Kharga, MBBS
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
anil.kharga@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Anil Kharga, MBBS, is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Division of Transplant Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn Medicine), specializing in organ preservation and recovery. He previously trained at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he worked in the perfusion lab at the Center for Engineering in Medicine and Surgery (CEMS) and the Center for Transplantation Sciences (CTS). There, he gained expertise in perfusion systems for small and large animal models, human liver perfusion, and pig-to-baboon liver xenotransplantation. His research focuses on ex vivo liver perfusion to restore damaged organs and increase the availability of viable grafts for transplantation. He has demonstrated the effectiveness of the CEPT drug combination in recovering warm ischemic livers and preserving human livers through subzero supercooling with cryoprotective agent infusion. Additionally, he pioneered an oxygenation protocol using Hemoglobin-Based Oxygen Carriers (HBOC) to enhance oxygen delivery during procurement and transplantation, successfully applying this technique in pig-to-baboon xenotransplantation. His work with TBD 184, a Bone Morphogenetic Protein-7 (BMP-7) mimetic, has shown promise in rat liver graft recovery, while his research on Hemopure (HBOC-201) for graft flushing aims to further reduce ischemic injury. He has presented his findings at national and international transplant conferences, earning multiple travel awards. Currently, he is developing a protocol for liver regeneration through long-term normothermic machine perfusion (NMP), supported by funding from The Transplantation Society (TTS) and the Gift of Life (GOL) Transplant Foundation.
Education
Institute of Medical Sciences (IMS), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, UP, India
Research Interest
Machine perfusion, liver preservation, graft optimization, prototyping islet cell-based stent, medical device development, transplantation tolerance, xenotransplantation, lipid nanoparticle delivery with machine perfusion, liver regeneration.
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Read More about Qin Yang, MD, PhD
Qin Yang, MD, PhD
Visiting Scholar
qin.yang@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Dr. Qin Yang, MD, PhD, joined the University of Pennsylvania in September 2024 as a visiting scholar in the Department of Surgery at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She specializes in minimally invasive surgery of the hepatobiliary and pancreatic systems. Before her appointment at Penn, Dr. Yang was an Attending Surgeon in the Department of General Surgery at a tertiary hospital in China. Dr. Yang obtained her MD in General Surgery and PhD in Hepatobiliary Oncology, focusing on foundational research on biliary injury mechanism, bile acid homeostasis, and innovative therapies for liver cancer. At the University of Pennsylvania, she works at Drs. Lei-Markmann Laboratory Group, where her research explores immune tolerance in organ transplant and immune evasion strategies in iPSC-derived islet transplant. She has authored over 20 scientific papers and led several high-profile research projects in China before her arrival.
Education
West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University, China
Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam University, the Netherlands
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Tongji Medical College, China
Research interests
Biliary injury mechanism, bile acid homeostasis, hepatocellular carcinoma, transplant immunology, iPSC-islet immune evasion
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Read More about Katie Krupp, MD
Katie Krupp, MD
General Surgery Resident
katharine.krupp@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Katie Krupp, MD, is a general surgery resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her undergraduate education at Bowdoin College and received her medical degree from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. After college, she joined the lab of Dr. Todd Allen at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard where she worked to assess the efficacy of next-generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells directed against HIV. During medical school, she then worked with Dr. Paige Porrett at the University of Pennsylvania to characterize pregnancy-induced changes in the T cell repertoire with the goal of advancing the care of parous transplant patients. Her current research interests include exploring the therapeutic potential of regulatory B cells in transplantation and delineating mechanisms of pathologic platelet consumption by porcine grafts to facilitate advances in liver xenotransplantation. She plans to pursue a career as an academic transplant surgeon.
Education
Bowdoin College, Brunswick, ME
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
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Read More about Oliver Perrine, BS, MSc
Oliver Perrine, BS, MSc
Medical Student
oliver.perrine@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Oliver Perrine, BS, MSc, is a medical student at William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Mississippi. Before starting medical school, he gained diverse hands-on experience working as an EMT, lab technician, waiter, and organ recovery specialist for the New England Organ Bank.
He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Connecticut and later earned a master’s degree from Boston University. During his time as an undergrad, he helped teach a local EMT course and even led a physics class at a level 2 state prison. At Boston University, he helped teach a master ’s-level immunology course.
Oliver’s lab experience spans multiple disciplines, from sports science research to antibiotic resistance testing in mass-produced eggs. His work in transplantation sparked a deep interest in kidney and liver transplants, with a particular fascination for xenotransplantation.
Education:
William Carey University School of Osteopathic Medicine
Boston University Medical School
University of Connecticut
Research Interests:
Liver transplant, kidney transplant, xenotransplant, immunology, graft rejection.
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Read More about Richard Yang, BA
Richard Yang, BA
Harrison Surgical Scholar
richard.yang1@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Richard Yang, BA, is a Harrison Surgical Scholar in the Division of Transplant Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2024 with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. Richard is currently studying the ability of Regulatory B Cells to prevent allograft rejection. Richard’s goal is to pursue a career in surgery.
