David T. Harris, PhD

Executive Director, AHSC Biorepository
Professor, Immunobiology
Professor, Medicine
Professor, BIO5 Institute

Dr. Harris is a graduate of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where he obtained Bachelor of Science degrees (cum laude) in Biology, Mathematics and Psychology in 1978.  He earned a Masters of Medical Sciences (summa cum laude) from Bowman Gray Medical School in 1980 and his Doctorate in Microbiology and Immunology (magna cum laude) from Bowman Gray Medical School in 1982.  From 1982-1985 Dr. Harris was a Post-doctorate Fellow at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Lausanne, Switzerland.  In 1985 he joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine.  In 1989 Dr. Harris joined the faculty at the University of Arizona in Tucson as an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology.  In 1996 Dr. Harris was promoted to Professor of Immunology.  Dr. Harris established the first cord blood bank in the USA in 1992.  He currently serves as the Executive Director of the University of Arizona Biorepository, Quality Director of the GMP Laboratory, is a member of the Arizona Cancer Center, a member of the Children’s Research Center, and a member of the Arizona Arthritis Center.  Dr. Harris’s research interests include stem cells and regenerative medicine, cancer research/stem cell transplantation and gene therapy.  Dr. Harris has founded 5 companies while at the University of Arizona; Cord Blood Registry, Inc.; ImmuneRegen BioSciences, Inc.; QuReGen, Inc., AdiCyte and Family Cryo Bank.

Research Interests: 

Banking of and research on stem cells and other tissues for discovery, regenerative medicine and cell therapy.

Degrees
  • BS: Wake Forest University, Math, Biology, Psychology, 1978
  • MS: Wake Forest University, Medical Sciences, 1980
  • PhD: Bowman Gray Medical School, Micro & Immuno, 1982
  • Post-Doc: Ludwig Inst., Switzerland, Immunology, 1985

Recent Publications

2020

Ripperger, T. J., J. L. Uhrlaub, M. Watanabe, R. Wong, Y. Castaneda, H. A. Pizzato, M. R. Thompson, C. Bradshaw, C. C. Weinkauf, C. Bime, et al., "Detection, prevalence, and duration of humoral responses to SARS-CoV-2 under conditions of limited population exposure.", medRxiv, 2020 Aug 15. PMCID: PMC7430613  PMID: 32817969
Valori, V., K. Tus, C. Laukaitis, D. T. Harris, L. LeBeau, and K. A. Maggert, "Human copy number is unstable in metastatic breast cancers.", Epigenetics, vol. 15, issue 1-2, pp. 85-106, 2020 Jan - Feb. PMCID: PMC6961696  PMID: 31352858

2019

Harris, D. T., and S. Israel, "What Will Become of the Taxpayer Investment in Public Cord Blood Stem Cell Banking?", Curr Stem Cell Res Ther, 2019 Feb 22. PMID: 30806326
Badowski, M. S., A. Muise, and D. T. Harris, "Long-Term Biobanking of Intact Tissue from Lipoaspirate.", J Clin Med, vol. 8, issue 3, 2019 Mar 08. PMCID: PMC6463172  PMID: 30857129

2018

Harris, D. T., "Biobanking and Regenerative Medicine: An Overview.", J Clin Med, vol. 7, issue 6, 2018 May 31. PMCID: PMC6028906  PMID: 29857481

2017

Pandey, A. C., J. J. Lancaster, D. T. Harris, S. Goldman, and E. Juneman, "Cellular Therapeutics for Heart Failure: Focus on Mesenchymal Stem Cells.", Stem Cells Int, vol. 2017, pp. 9640108, 2017. PMCID: PMC5748110  PMID: 29391871

2016

Harris, D. T., "Banking of Adipose- and Cord Tissue-Derived Stem Cells: Technical and Regulatory Issues.", Adv Exp Med Biol, vol. 951, pp. 147-154, 2016. PMID: 27837561

2015

Choudhery, M. S., M. Badowski, A. Muise, and D. T. Harris, "Effect of mild heat stress on the proliferative and differentiative ability of human mesenchymal stromal cells.", Cytotherapy, vol. 17, issue 4, pp. 359-68, 2015 Apr. PMID: 25536863
Harris, D. T., B. R. Kallman, B. C. Mullaney, and K. Scott, "Representations of Taste Modality in the Drosophila Brain.", Neuron, vol. 86, issue 6, pp. 1449-60, 2015 Jun 17. PMCID: PMC4474761  PMID: 26051423
Choudhery, M. S., M. Badowski, A. Muise, J. Pierce, and D. T. Harris, "Subcutaneous Adipose Tissue-Derived Stem Cell Utility Is Independent of Anatomical Harvest Site.", Biores Open Access, vol. 4, issue 1, pp. 131-45, 2015. PMCID: PMC4497709  PMID: 26309790