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Projects
Ending Transplant Rejection
The Complete Transplant Patient Initiative
Solving the Organ Donor Shortage -
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WE ARE COMMITTED TO MAKING ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION BETTER – TOGETHER.
At the Terasaki Research Institute, we believe in organ transplantation. In collaboration with leading physicians, scientists, and the biotechnology/pharmaceutical industry, we will solve the major problems limiting the access and success of organ transplantation. We support our family of the brightest data scientists, health services researchers, biostatisticians, and basic scientists. Our unique culture allows for superior academic research, creativity, and collaboration. We value the transplant patient, collaboration, innovation, honesty, and integrity. Our willingness and ability to focus on the patient’s needs and collaborate with the entire transplant community is one of our major strengths. As an independent non-profit research institute, we do research with transplant centers worldwide, serve as a core lab on research grants, conduct in depth data analysis, have major health literacy and education programs, work within and help develop research consortia, run major transplant registries, and we have research partnerships with many companies.
Ending Transplant Rejection
Poor long-term survival of a transplanted organ (allograft) is one of the major problems in transplant today. Circulating antibodies directed toward donor human leukocyte antigens (HLA) (donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies, DSA) are now thought to be the major cause of allograft loss. Although, we know more about these antibodies and their ability to injure the transplanted organ than we did even a decade ago, we still have much learn.
We must develop a stronger understanding of antibody mediated injury in transplant and develop new diagnostic and therapeutic tools to eradicate this problem in transplant. Here at the Terasaki Research Institute, we are working to make this happen.
The Complete Transplant Patient Initiative
At the Terasaki Research Institute, we are keenly focused on working together with transplant patients to get a better understanding of their habits, preferences, and quality of life. We want to make transplant care, transplant medications, and the entire transplant process better fit the needs of the transplant patients. We believe that we can combine the patient's needs and thoughts with our basic science research and transplant education to make a transplant recipient's life better. This requires basic scientists, clinicians, and health services researchers to work together WITH the patient. Here at the Terasaki Research Institute, we want to solve problems with the whole patient in mind.
Solving the Organ Donor Shortage
Patients are waiting for transplants and dying while waiting. In 2016, in the U.S., 19,061 chronic kidney disease patients received a kidney transplant while 9,246 more patients died or became too ill to remain on the transplant list. This problem is also a major issue in heart, lung, liver, pancreas, and small bowel transplant. In kidney transplant where living donation is possible, less than 1/3 of all transplants are done this way. We at the Terasaki Research Institute are working to solve the organ donor shortage.
We must make organ transplant available for those who need it. We also need to decrease the risk of death for those still waiting for a transplant.
QUESTIONS ABOUT STARTING A COLLABORATIVE PROJECT?
Achieving success together with our collaborators
