Lawson’s annual Strategic Research Fund (SRF) was established to fund research projects aligned with Lawson’s strategic research goals as outlined in our 2014-2018 Strategic Plan. For the 2015-2016 competition, projects were to focus primarily on “inflammation.”
Winning Project: Imaging inflammation to Predict Kidney Function Prior to Transplantation
Kidney failure is steadily on the rise and only a limited number of donor kidneys are available. Close to 3000 kidneys are judged unsuitable for transplantation and discarded each year in the United States. Many of these are from donors after cardiac death (DCD). This involves the use of organs from donors whose hearts have stopped beating prior to donation. Unfortunately, DCD kidneys are prone to inflammatory injury that occurs as a result of decreased blood flow and oxygen supply. This tissue inflammation can lead to organ rejection and poor transplant kidney function in patients. Drs. Gill and Sener will use a novel approach to determine the future function of discarded kidneys prior to transplantation using state-of-the-art imaging technology. The results from this novel study will be used to predict the future function of donor kidneys which were deemed unsuitable for transplantation.
