Donald R Branch, PhD

Cancer Clinical Research Unit (CCRU), Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Affiliate Scientist, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute (TGHRI)
Keywords: signal transduction, cancer, transfusion medicine, HIV pathogenesis
Dr. Branch's current interests can be broken down into 4 main areas:
  • Signaling involving c-Src
  • Signaling in HIV/AIDS pathogenesis and disease resistance
  • Studies of SHP-1 tyrosine phosphatase in malignancies
  • Mechanism of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) effect in autoimmune inflammatory diseases
Current projects include:
  • The function of pp60c-src and Pyk2 in HIV infection 
  • The role of signaling through the VPAC family of neuroendocrine receptors on HIV/AIDS infection and resistance to infection 
  • Drug discovery for small molecular weight molecules that block HIV fusion 
  • Identification of novel treatment modalities for HIV/AIDS 
  • The signaling pathways used by HIV for its early stages of its life cycle 
  • The mechanism of IVIG treatment for autoimmune inflammatory diseases 
  • Drug discovery for small molecular weight molecules that inhibit phagocytosis 
  • The mechanism of anti-D immune prophylaxis and treatment of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura
  • Drug discovery for alternatives to IVIG
The first case of severe acute hemolytic transfusion reaction caused by anti-Sc2.
Transfusion. 2018 Oct 09;:
Lemay AS, Tong TN, Branch DR, Huang M, Sumner C, Oldfield L, Hawes J, Cserti-Gazdewich CM, Lau W
The Monocyte Monolayer Assay: Past, Present and Future.
Transfus Med Rev. 2018 Aug 08;:
Tong TN, Cen S, Branch DR
GPIbα is required for platelet-mediated hepatic thrombopoietin generation.
Blood. 2018 May 24;:
Xu M, Li J, Neves MAD, Zhu G, Carrim N, Yu R, Gupta S, Marshall J, Rotstein O, Peng J, Hou M, Kunishima S, Ware J, Branch DR, Lazarus A, Ruggeri ZM, Freedman J, Ni H
Evaluation of the functional properties of cryopreserved buffy coat-derived monocytes for monocyte monolayer assay.
Transfusion. 2018 May 09;:
Kipkeu BJ, Shyian ML, da Silveira Cavalcante L, Duong TT, Yeung RSM, Binnington B, Branch DR, Acker JP, Holovati JL
GM-CSF and IL-4 are not involved in IVIG-mediated amelioration of ITP in mice: a role for IL-11 cannot be ruled out.
Clin Exp Immunol. 2018 Apr 28;:
Lewis BJB, Leontyev D, Neschadim A, Blacquiere M, Branch DR
Red blood cells, still vital after all these years: Commentary on Canadian Blood Services' International Symposium 2017.
Transfus Apher Sci. 2018 Apr 19;:
Qadri SM, Donkor DA, Yan M, Ning S, Branch DR, Seghatchian J, Sheffield WP
rIgG1 Fc Hexamer Inhibits Antibody-Mediated Autoimmune Disease via Effects on Complement and FcγRs.
J Immunol. 2018 Mar 12;:
Spirig R, Campbell IK, Koernig S, Chen CG, Lewis BJB, Butcher R, Muir I, Taylor S, Chia J, Leong D, Simmonds J, Scotney P, Schmidt P, Fabri L, Hofmann A, Jordi M, Spycher MO, Cattepoel S, Brasseit J, Panousis C, Rowe T, Branch DR, Baz Morelli A,...
Bacterial neuraminidase-mediated erythrocyte desialylation provokes cell surface aminophospholipid exposure.
Eur J Haematol. 2018 Feb 17;:
Qadri SM, Donkor DA, Nazy I, Branch DR, Sheffield WP
ABO Zygosity, but not Secretor or Fc Receptor Status, is a Significant Risk Factor for IVIG-Associated Hemolysis.
Blood. 2018 Jan 05;:
Branch DR, Hellberg Å, Bruggeman CW, Storry JR, Sakac D, Blacquiere M, Tong TN, Burke-Murphy E, Binnington B, Parmar N, Sampson Riden L, Willie K, Armali C, Aziz J, Lieberman L, Laroche V, Callum J, Lin Y, Shehata N, Pavenski K, Lau W, Hannach B,...
IVIG regulates the survival of human but not mouse neutrophils.
Sci Rep. 2017 May 02;7(1):1296
Schneider C, Wicki S, Graeter S, Timcheva TM, Keller CW, Quast I, Leontyev D, Djoumerska-Alexieva IK, Käsermann F, Jakob SM, Dimitrova PA, Branch DR, Cummings RD, Lünemann JD, Kaufmann T, Simon HU, von Gunten S

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Cancer Clinical Research Unit (CCRU), Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Affiliate Scientist, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute (TGHRI)

Associate Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto
Scientist, Canadian Blood Services