Daniel R. Saban Ph.D., M.S.

Education

2005      Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Immunology
              University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

2002     Master of Science (MS) in Molecular Biology
              University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

1999      Bachelor of Science (BS) in Biological Sciences
              George Washington University, Washington, DC

Awards

• 2009, Kirschstein-NRSA Award (F32), National Eye Institute

• 2009, Travel Grant Awardee, Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies Annual Sympoium

• 2008, Best Fellow Paper Award, The Cornea Society/EBAA Fall Education Symposium

• 2008, Travel Grant Awardee, National Eye Institute (NEI), ARVO Annual Symposium

• 2008, Travel Grant Awardee, German Ophthalmological Society (DOG), Symposium on Immunology of Corneal Transplantation

• 2007, Travel Grant Awardee, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and The Transplantation Society

• 2007, Howard Lieberman Lecture Awardee, American Society for Cataract and Refractive Surgeons

• 2006 , Harvard Program in Ocular Immunology and Inflammation (T32)

• 2006, Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, American Society for Refractive and Cataract Surgery/Fight for Sight

• 2004, Mentoring Opportunity Program Award, University of Florida

• 2004, Excellence in Science, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAA)

Research Project

Corticosteroids for prophylaxis and treatment of corneal allograft rejection are fraught with many side-effects and are variably effective in high-risk patients with inflamed and neovascularized graft beds. With new microsurgical techniques available, composite grafts consisting of de-epithelialized allografts (stroma/endothelium) reconstituted with epithelium from a separate donor is now possible and confers potential advantages. Previous mouse data shows syngeneicly-derived epithelium covering allogeneic stroma/endothelium results in a near universal acceptance, even in high-risk hosts. However, host-derived epithelium is not always attainable, for example, in hosts with limbal stem cell deficiencies. Additionally, locating donor-matched epithelia may be impractical. My current approach, however, is to transplant composite grafts with third party-derived epithelium which is allogeneic to stroma/endothelium. Therefore, immunogenicity of the donor epithelium cannot contribute directly to allosensitization against the stroma/endothelium, the main and critical target in corneal graft rejection.

Selected Publications

1. Saban DR, Chauhan SK, Zhang X, El Annan J, Jin Y, Dana R. “Chimeric Grafts Assembled from Multiple Allodisparate Donors Enjoy Enhanced Transplant Survival” Am J Transplant. 2009 Mar;9(3):473-82.

2. Dastjerdi M, Saban DR (co-first author), and Dana R “Comparison of topical versus subconjunctival treatment with avastin in promoting high-risk allograft survival.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. In press.

3. Saban DR, Dastjerdi MH, Dana R. Corneal Graft Rejection. In: Levin and Albert eds. Ocular Disease: Mechanism and Management. London, UK: Elsevier, 2009: In press.

4. Chung ES, Saban DR (co-first author), Chauhan SK, Dana R. “Regulation of Blood Vessel versus Lymphatic Vessel Growth in the Cornea.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2008 Nov 21.

5. Saban DR, Cornelius J, Masli S, Schwartzkopff J, Doyle M, Chauhan SK, Peck AB, Grant MB. “The role of ACAID and CD4+CD25+FOXP3+ regulatory T cells on CTL function against MHC alloantigens.” Mol Vis. 2008;14:2435-42.

6. Saban DR, Elder I, Timmers A, Nguyen C, Grant MB, Peck AB. “Characterization of Intraocular Immunopathology Following Intracameral Inoculation with Alloantigen.” Mol Vis. 2008 Mar 26;14:615-24.

7. Chauhan SK, Saban DR, Lee HK, Dana R. “Levels of Foxp3 in regulatory T cells reflect their functional status in transplantation.” J Immunol. 2009 Jan;182(1):148-53.

8. Zhang X, Shen L, Jin Y, Saban DR, Chauhan SK, Dana R.  “Depletion of Antigen-Presenting Cells from Corneal Grafts: An Effective Means of Promoting Transplant Survival?" Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2009 Jan 10.

9. Chauhan SK, El Annan J, Ecoiffier T, Goyal S, Zhang Q, Saban DR, Dana R. “Autoimmunity in Dry Eye is due to Resistance of Th17 to Treg Suppression.” J Immunol. 2009 Feb; 182(3).

10. Jin Y, Arita Makoto, Zhang Q, Saban DR, Chiang N, Chauhan SK, Serhan CN, Dana R. “Novel Anti-inflammatory and Pro-resolving Lipid Mediators Block Inflammatory Angiogenesis.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2009 Apr 30.

11. El Annan J, Chauhan SK, Zhang Q, Saban DR, Dana R. “Characterization of Effector T cells in Dry Eye Disease.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2009 Aug;50(8):3802-7.

12. Jin Y, Saban DR, Chauhan SK, Dana R. “CCR7 in direct allosensitization following corneal transplantation.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. In press.

13. Nguyen CQ, Gao JH, Kim H, Saban DR, Cornelius JG, Peck AB. “IL-4-STAT6 Signal Transduction-Dependent Induction of the Clinical Phase of Sjogren's Syndrome-Like Disease of the Nonobese Diabetic Mouse.” J. Immunol. 2007 Jul 1;179(1):382-90.

14. Doyle ME, Boggs L, Attia R, Cooper LR, Saban DR, Nguyen CQ, Peck AB. “Autoimmune Dacryoadenitis of NOD/LtJ Mice and its Subsequent Effects on Tear Production Protein Composition.”  Am J Pathol. 2007 Oct;171(4):1224-36.

15. Sengupta N, Caballero S, Mames RN, Timmers AM, Saban DR, Grant MB. “Preventing Stem Cell Incorporation into Choroidal Neovascularization by Targeting Homing and Attachment Factors.” Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2005 Jan; 46(1):343-8.