Morgan Black
Pronouns: she her hers
Research Mentor(s): Russell Urie
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Biomedical Engineering / Engineering
Program: UROPF
Session: Session 6 (3:40pm – 4:30pm)
Authors: Noah Black, Awanti Sambarey, Kirk Smith, Sriram Chandrasekaran
Abstract
In the year 2021 there was a 5.9 percent increase in the number of solid organ transplants, with the number now being over 40,000. There is no assessment to predict rejection of the organ, and physicians rely on biopsy and one-size-fits-all immunosuppression, which increases toxicities and infections in patients. Graft biopsy is flawed, as histological rejection lags behind molecular biomarkers, and blood-based assessments also measure lagging indicators of graft damage. A new method is needed to predict the risk of transplant rejection. We have developed a subcutaneous biomaterial implant scaffold that collects biomarkers of graft health to preserve function while also reducing the need for biopsy and immune suppression. We derived a 28-gene scaffold biomarkers signature to predict the onset of mouse skin or heart rejection. In this work, we will perform a first-in-human safety study if these scaffold implants in kidney transplant recipients. We will simultaneously enhance our scaffold-derived biomarkers of graft rejection in the context of clinical immune suppression and identify rejection during respiratory infection in mice. We hypothesize that these scaffolds will prove safe as long-term implants in humans and that the scaffold device will enable preventative immune modulation.
