![Prof Reza Motallebzadeh](https://www.royalfree.nhs.uk/application/files/9216/9697/1516/Reza_Motallebzadeh.jpg)
Job title
Honorary consultant renal transplant surgeon, Royal Free Hospital; clinical lead for renal transplantation surgery
Contact details
Email: reza.
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Biography
Prof Motallebzadeh was educated at Westminster School, London and completed the pre-clinical and clinical Medical Sciences Tripos at St. John's College, University of Cambridge.
He initially trained as a specialist registrar in cardiothoracic surgery in London, and undertook a research MD at St George’s Hospital, London University. His interest in immunology took him back to Cambridge and he subsequently pursued a career in abdominal transplantation surgery.
He completed a PhD (2008-2011) in the Department of Surgery, University of Cambridge, to understand the role of tertiary lymphoid organs in chronic allograft rejection, and then, as a NIHR academic clinical lecturer, his work focused on the role of germinal centre B cells in alloantibody-mediated rejection.
Prof Motallebzadeh joined the Royal Free London as honorary consultant tenaltransplant surgeon and associate professor, University College London (UCL), in September 2017. He is currently professor of renal transplantation, head of centre for transplantation in the department of renal medicine, and deputy head, centre for surgical innovation, organ repair and transplantation, division of surgery and interventional science, UCL.
Languages
English
Farsi
GMC number
4583682
A list of publications can be found via the following three links.
Prof Motallebzadeh directs the basic science and translational academic research from the transplant directorate at the Royal Free Hospital, research department of surgical biotechnology and institute of immunity and transplantation, and leads the unit’s clinical renal transplantation trials portfolio.
His laboratory is focused on collaborative, multidisciplinary and translational research in experimental and clinical kidney transplantation. The research themes are underpinned by a commitment to developing innovative collaborations with academic centres and industrial partners to address fundamental questions concerning end-stage kidney disease and kidney transplantation.
Prof Motallebzadeh’s clinical research programme similarly utilises a multidisciplinary approach to address key clinical challenges in kidney transplantation and vascular access surgery. These include:
- delineating the role of the gut microbiota and microbial-derived metabolites and influence on T and B regulatory cells in acute rejection in renal transplantation
- spatial and molecular profiling of kidney lymphatic vessels in kidney allograft rejection
- control of human cytomegalovirus infection by tissue-resident NK cells
- understanding the immune mechanisms underlying development of allograft vasculopathy and chronic rejection in solid organ transplantation, in particular the role of T follicular helper cells
- developing 3D culture models of renal fibrosis using organoids based on human kidney extracellular matrix scaffolds
- investigating the basis of attenuated B cell responses to vaccines in patients with chronic kidney disease
- development of a point-of-care urinary assay for monitoring rejection after renal transplantation.