Biosketch

Bill Flegel earned his medical degree and received a Doctor of Medicine by research (Dr.med., magna cum laude) at the University of Frankfurt, trained in transfusion medicine at the University of Ulm and performed post doctoral research at University of California at San Diego. He was appointed head of the Immunohematology Department at the German Red Cross Blood Center Ulm and a member of the Medical Faculty, University of Ulm, as Associate Professor (Privatdozent) in 1998 and Professor (apl. Professor) in 2005.

Dr. Flegel has been actively involved in blood transfusion medicine since 1986 and at the forefront of research on Rh antigens since 1994. His many professional activities include founding and coordinating the German Rare Donor Program 1999 – 2009 and serving as a member of the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) Working Parties for Rare Donors 2000 – 2010 and on Red Cell Immunogenetics and Blood Group Terminology since 2004. He holds patents in the field of molecular immunohematology and serves on the editorial boards of several journals. He has published more than 100 articles in scientific journals, authored a medical-legal text book on transfusion medicine and has written several book chapters.

Dr. Flegel came to the NIH Clinical Center Department of Transfusion Medicine (DTM) in 2009 as Chief, Laboratory Services Section. In this role, he directs the Transfusion Services (TSL) and HLA Laboratories. During his tenure, the TSL expanded genotyping for RBC antigens and the HLA Laboratory established KIR gene expression assays. Research interests include blood group genotyping; relationship of genotype, phenotype and function of blood group proteins; stem cell surface antigens in vivo and during ex vivo expansion; and immunogenetics in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Honors

NIH Clinical Center Director's Award, 2010; Honorary Member of the Swiss Association for Transfusion Medicine, 2005; Philip Levine Award of the German Society for Transfusion Medicine and Immunohematology, 2004.

Selected Publications

BOOK

Lippert H-D, Flegel WA. Kommentar zum Transfusionsgesetz (TFG) und den Hämotherapie-Richtlinien. XXXIX, 521 pages. Springer, Berlin 2002

BOOK CHAPTERS

Flegel WA, Wagner FF. Blutgruppen: Alloantigene auf Erythrozyten. In: Kiefel V (Ed.) Transfusionsmedizin und Immunhamatologie. Springer, Berlin 2010, 4th edition

Flegel WA. Transfusion. In: Delves PJ, Roitt IM (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Immunology. Academic Press, London 1999, 2nd edition

JOURNAL REVIEWS AND EDITORIALS

Flegel WA. Molecular genetics and clinical applications for RH. Transf Apher Sci 44, 81 – 91, 2011

Flegel WA. Immunogenicity reloaded. Blood 114, 3979 – 3980, 2009

Denomme GA, Flegel WA. Applying molecular immunohematology discoveries to standards of practice in blood banks: now is the time. Transfusion 48, 2461 – 2475, 2008

Flegel WA. Will MICA glitter for recipients of kidney transplants? N Engl J Med 357, 1337 - 1339, 2007

Flegel WA. Homing in on D antigen immunogenicity. Transfusion 45, 466 – 468, 2005

Northoff H, Flegel WA. Genotyping and phenotyping: the two sides of one coin. Infusionsther Transfusionsmed 26, 5, 1999

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Schwartz, S, Vergoulidou,M, Schreier, E, Loddenkemper,C, Reinwald,M, Schmidt-Hieber M, Flegel WA, Thiel E, Schneider T. Norovirus gastroenteritis causes severe and lethal complications after chemotherapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Blood 117, 5850 – 5856, 2011

Fasano RM, Monaco A, Riehm Meier E, Pary P, Lee-Stroka AH, Otridge J, Klein HG, Marincola FM, Kamani NR, Luban NLC, Stroncek D, Flegel  WA. RH genotyping in a sickle cell disease patient contributing to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation donor selection and management. Blood 116, 2836 – 2838, 2010

Flegel WA, von Zabern I, Doescher A, Wagner FF, Strathmann KP, Geisen C, Palfi M, PísaÄ?ka M, Poole J, Polin H, Gabriel C, Avent ND. D variants at the RhD vestibule in the weak D type 4 and Eurasian D clusters. Transfusion 49, 1059 – 1069, 2009

Flegel WA, von Zabern I, Wagner FF. Six years' experience performing RHD genotyping to confirm D– red blood cell units in Germany for preventing anti-D Immunizations. Transfusion 49, 465 – 471, 2009

Lüttringhaus TA, Cho D, Ryang DW, Flegel WA. A simple RHD genotyping strategy for D–  East Asian persons applied to Korean blood donors. Transfusion 46, 2128 - 2137, 2006

Wagner FF, Moulds JM, Flegel WA. Genetic mechanisms of Rhesus box variation. Transfusion 45, 338 – 344, 2005

Wagner FF, Poole J, Flegel WA. Scianna antigens including Rd are expressed by ERMAP. Blood 101, 752 - 757, 2003

Wagner FF, Eicher NI, Jørgensen JR, Lonicer CB, Flegel WA. DNB: a partial D with anti-D frequent in Central Europe. Blood 100, 2253 – 2256, 2002

Wagner FF, Ladewig B, Angert KS, Heymann GA, Eicher NI, Flegel WA. DAU allele cluster of the RHD gene. Blood 100, 306 – 311, 2002

Flegel WA, ÄŒurin-Šerbec V, Delamaire M, Donvito B, Ikeda H, Jørgensen J, Kumpel B, Le Pennec P-Y, PísaÄ?ka M, Tani Y, Uchikawa M, Wendel S, Wagner FF. Rhesus index and antigen density: An analysis of the reproducibility of flow cytometric determination (Section 1B: Rh flow cytometry – Coordinator's report). Transf Clin Biol 9, 33 – 42, 2002

Wagner FF, Frohmajer A, Flegel WA. RHD positive alleles in D negative whites. BMC Genetics 2, 10, 2001

Wagner FF, Flegel WA: RHD gene deletion occurred in the Rhesus box. Blood 95, 3662 - 3668, 2000

Wagner FF, Frohmajer A, Ladewig B, Eicher NI, Lonicer CB, Müller TH, Siegel MH, Flegel WA. Weak D alleles express distinct phenotypes. Blood 95, 2699 - 2708, 2000

Flegel WA, Khull SR, Wagner FF. Primary anti-D immunization by weak D type 2 RBCs. Transfusion 40, 428 - 424, 2000

Flegel WA, Besenfelder W, Wagner FF. Predicting a donor's likelihood of donating within a preselected time interval. Transfusion Medicine 10, 181 - 192, 2000

Wagner FF, Gassner C, Müller TH, Schönitzer D, Schunter F, Flegel WA. Molecular basis of weak D phenotypes. Blood 93, 385 - 393, 1999

Wagner FF, Gassner C, Müller TH, Schönitzer D, Schunter F, Flegel WA. Three molecular structures cause Rhesus D category VI phenotypes with distinct immunohematologic features. Blood 91, 2157 - 2168, 1998

Wagner FF, Flegel WA. Polymorphism of the h allele and the population frequency of non-functional alleles. Transfusion 37, 284 - 290, 1997

Wagner, F.F., Flegel, W.A.: Toxic epidermic necrolysis. N Engl J Med 334, 922, 1996

Wagner FF, Flegel WA. Transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease: risk in transfusions due to homozygous HLA-haplotypes. Transfusion 35, 284 - 291, 1995

Flegel WA, Singson AW, Margolis JA, Bang AG, Posakony JW, Murre C. Dpbx, a new homeobox gene related to the human proto-oncogene pbx1: Molecular structure and developmental expression. Mech Dev 41, 155 - 161, 1993

Kniep B, Flegel WA, Northoff H, Rieber EP. CDw60 antigens of human leukocytes: Structural characterization and cellular distribution. Blood 82, 1776-1786, 1993

Flegel WA, Müller F, Däubener W, Fischer H-G, Hadding U, Northoff H. Cytokine response by human monocytes to Clostridium difficile toxin A and toxin B. Infect Immun 59, 3659 - 3666, 1991

Flegel WA, Wölpl A, Männel DN, Northoff H. Inhibition of endotoxin-induced activation of human monocytes by human lipoproteins. Infect Immun 57, 2237 - 2245, 1989