FUNDED GRANTS: 2022
GRANTS AWARDED IN 2023
MAYO CLINIC
Humoral Response Toward Non-HLA as Liquid Biomarkers of Rejection in Heart Transplant Recipients
This project addresses the call from the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation for an increased understanding of the causes of rejection in heart transplant recipients. The project will employ novel patented methods to determine which components of the donor-transplanted organ the recipient is developing an immune response toward. Each of these components will then be investigated for their mechanistic effect on the cells that line blood vessels since these cells are known to be the primary interface between the recipient’s immune system (i.e., in the blood) and the donor organ.
Principal Investigator: Leigh Griffiths
Awarded: March 2023
Duration: 24 months
Amount of Award: $114,513
Brigham & Women's Hospital
Transplanting Organs from Hepatitis B Positive Donors to Hepatitis B Uninfected Recipients
This is a pilot safety and efficacy trial for adults who are active on the heart, lung, and/or kidney transplant lists and are eligible to receive an organ from an increased-risk donor who has evidence of active HBV infection (HBV sAg positive and/or HBV NAT positive). This study will assess graft survival and HBV status of transplant recipients at six months post-transplant and add to the limited HBV studies in immunosuppressed patients. This study will help expand the organ donor pool by demonstrating whether organs from donors with active HBV infection can be safely transplanted.
Principal Investigator: Ann Woolley
Awarded: September 2023
Duration: 24 months
Awarded: $150,000
UNIVERSITY HEALTH NETWORK
Aberrant CD4 + T-cells in Early Lung Lavage as a Predictor of CLAD (4-TELL CLAD)
Lung transplant recipients have poor survival, with half of patients dying within six years of surgery. Death usually results from lung scarring caused by the recipient’s immune system. The grantee has found unusual white blood cells in the lungs of patients who go on to develop lung scarring and die. In this study, the grantee will look at samples from lung transplant patients around the world to confirm our finding. If so, the grantee will be able to identify patients at risk of lung scarring and death before it happens so that, hopefully, the grantee can apply treatments in the future to prevent these terrible outcomes.
Principal Investigator: Stephen Juvet
Awarded: September 2023
Duration: 24 months
Awarded: $150,000