Ahmad Abu-Khader, Ph.D.

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Dr. Ahmad Abu-Khader, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He is also the Associate Director and Clinical Consultant of the Transplant Immunology and Histocompatibility Laboratory.

His clinical interests include Bone Marrow (BM) / Hematopoietic Stem Cell transplantations (HSC) transplantations and solid organs transplantations.

In addition to his Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics clinical skills, Dr. Abu-Khader has extensive clinical and research experience in cell therapy and regenerative medicine. His research interests include T cell biology in allogeneic BMT/HSC settings including graft-versus-leukemia (GvL), graft versus host disease (GvHD), and anti-cytomegalovirus (CMV). Also, he is interested in regenerative medicine research focusing on therapeutic cellular therapies including Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and expansion of Hematopoietic Stem Cell (HSC) for therapeutic use.

Dr Abu-Khader also has academic experience in many universities as an Assistant Professor in the field of Medical Laboratory Sciences.

Although he is originally from Jordan, but he received his Ph.D degree from the Faculty of Biology and Preclinical Medicine in University of Regensburg, Germany. Later he completed two postdocs, the first was at the Department of Hematology and Oncology at University Hospital of Regensburg - Germany, and the second was at the Center for Innovation in the Canadian Blood Services - Canada.

Dr Abu-Khader is board certified by the American College of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ACHI) (Diplomat) and accredited by the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI) for BM/HSC transplantation from related and unrelated donors, solid organ transplantation from live and deceased donors, and histocompatibility testing for other clinical purposes.

Before joining the UT Southwestern Medical Center as a faculty in 2023, he finished a fellowship in Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics at the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine - University of Calgary, Canada.

• Allogeneic T cell biology (i.e., GvL, GvHD, and anti-CMV) in BMT transplantation settings
• BMT/HSCT and cellular therapies
• Human histocompatibility and immunogenetics
• Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs)
• Non-HLA antibodies

Featured Publications

Next-generation sequencing identifies two novel HLA class II alleles, HLA-DRB1*01:115 and HLA-DRB1*14:224.

Abu-Khader A, Gareau AJ, Burns C, Khan F, Berka N, HLA 2022 Aug 100 2 176-177

The novel HLA class II allele, DPB1*1284:01, identified using next-generation sequencing.

Yang G, Abu-Khader A, Burns C, Galaszkiewicz I, Berka N, HLA 2022 Jul 100 1 103-104

SARS Cov-2 vaccination induces de novo donor-specific HLA antibodies in a renal transplant patient on waiting list: A case report.

Abu-Khader A, Wang W, Berka M, Galaszkiewicz I, Khan F, Berka N, HLA 2022 Jan 99 1 25-30

Four novel HLA class II alleles identified using next-generation sequencing.

Gareau A, Abu-Khader A, Yang G, Stamm L, Berka N, HLA 2021 Sep 98 3 233-234

The novel HLA-DRB1*03:01:32 allele identified using next-generation sequencing.

Abu-Khader A, Rahmanian A, Stamm L, Khan F, Berka N, HLA 2021 Aug 98 2 177-178

Paracrine Factors Released by Osteoblasts Provide Strong Platelet Engraftment Properties.

Abu-Khader A, Law KW, Jahan S, Manesia JK, Pasha R, Hovey O, Pineault N, Stem Cells 2019 Mar 37 3 345-356

Human Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stromal Cell-Derived Osteoblasts Promote the Expansion of Hematopoietic Progenitors Through Beta-Catenin and Notch Signaling Pathways.

Michalicka M, Boisjoli G, Jahan S, Hovey O, Doxtator E, Abu-Khader A, Pasha R, Pineault N, Stem Cells Dev 2017 Dec 26 24 1735-1748

Impact of osteoblast maturation on their paracrine growth enhancing activity on cord blood progenitors.

Alsheikh M, Abu-Khader A, Michalicka M, Pasha R, Pineault N, Eur J Haematol 2017 Jun 98 6 542-552

Antioxidant and lipid peroxidation protective properties of aqueous plant extracts in mononuclear blood cells under high oxidant stress

Abu-Khader A, Abdel-Razaq W, Alzaeim M, Ibrahim A Intel J Curr Med Pharm Res 2017

Antioxidant and lipid peroxidation protective properties of aqueous plant extracts in mononuclear blood cells under high oxidant stress

Abu-Khader A, Abdel-Razaq. W, Alzaeim M, Ibrahim A Intel J Curr Med Pharm Res 2017

• Best Abstract Prize Award
  1st Arabian Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenomics (ARSHI) Annual Conference (2022)
• Travel Award
  47th The American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI) Annual Meeting (2021)

• American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI) (2020)
• Arabian Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenomics (ARSHI) (2018)
• The American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT) (2018)