Dr. Olthoff's research involves both human translational studies and clinical research in the field of liver transplantation and regeneration and addressing disparities in organ transplantation. Her translational research is focused on liver recovery in the transplant setting, exploring the molecular aspects and -omics of liver regeneration, graft dysfunction, ischemic injury, and immunity in the transplant setting, and the clinical manifestations of genetic transfer with the graft. Her clinical research focuses on organ allocation, living liver donation, patient outcomes, and minimizing disparities in organ allocation and access to transplant.
These lines of investigation are funded by NIH grants, private industry, and the Biesecker Center for Pediatric Liver Disease. The Penn Transplant Institute research personnel have published in top-ranked journals such as Nature Medicine, Hepatology, American Journal of Transplantation, Liver Transplantation and Transplantation.
Human Translational Studies
- The Biorepository of the Transplant Institute at Penn (BioTIP). Dr. Olthoff is the PI for this large biorepository of blood, serum, and tissue samples from transplant recipient's and living donors. The repository serves as a valuable resource for numerous collaborations and ancillary studies.
- Liver regeneration and function in the transplant Setting. Assessment of liver growth and function in donors and recipients following partial hepatectomy, living donor transplantation, and deceased donor transplantation using genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics.
- Use of cfDNA as a biomarker for liver regeneration and recovery. Whole genome sequencing (WGS)-based technology for the detection liver regeneration or injury.
- Use of polygenic risk scores to predict the development of metabolic syndrome following liver transplantation. Integration of genomic data from transplant biorepositories that will be utilized to construct polygenic risk models specific to transplantation.
Clinical Research
- Clinical variables that impact liver regeneration after living donation and transplantation
- Long-term outcomes following living liver donation
- Assessing the prevalence of risk factors for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular complications in liver transplant recipients, comparing recipients of deceased donors (DDLT) to those of living donors (LDLT).
- Variables impacting Early Allograft Dysfunction (EAD) and effect on post-transplant survival. Effect of ex vivo machine perfusion on incidence of EAD
- The impact of Donor Care Units on increasing organ utilization
- Outcomes following combined heart-liver transplant
Selected list of Dr. Olthoff's published work.