Community Grants (Mid-America Transplant Foundation)

Community Grants (Mid-America Transplant Foundation) is sponsored by Mid-America Transplant Foundation. These grants are distributed to organizations dedicated to reducing the need for organ and tissue donation, increasing the availability of organs and tissues for those in need, and improving the lives of recipients and donor families.

Mid-America Transplant Foundation Funds Clinical Research to Support Transplant Innovation | Mid-America Transplant Mid-America Transplant Foundation Funds Clinical Research to Support Transplant Innovation ST. LOUIS (August 23, 2024) – The Mid America Transplant Foundation has announced the award of more than $1. 2 million in research grants to four studies.

Through its Clinical Innovation Fund, the Foundation has allocated $6. 9 million to 25 clinical research studies since 2016. “Funding clinical research is imperative to drive continuous improvement in organ donation,” said Dr. Gary Marklin, Chief Medical and Research Officer at Mid-America Transplant.

“Studies that explore new ways to improve the quality of organs for transplant as well as organ allocation processes enable us to maximize donor potential and be even greater stewards of the lifesaving gifts given by donor heroes and their families. ” Grant Recipients and Research Overviews Dr. Mustafa Nazzal, St. Louis University Dr. Nazzal’s three-year study focuses on reducing Ischemia-reperfusion injury in marginal donor livers.

His lab utilizes a combination of a novel normothermic perfusion pump (NMP) and nanoparticle-tagged deferoxamine to more consistently mitigate iron accumulation, resulting in a higher percentage of rehabilitated livers viable for transplantation. Dr. Gregory Martens, Washington University in St.

Louis Dr. Martens will use genetically modified pigs to better understand immunology, which could lead to better identifying the most compatible organ matches for transplant recipients. Over the course of a two-year research program, he will use a novel xeno-recovery protocol to test how gene knockouts in a pig can reduce negative immunology responses during organ transplant.

Dr. Cihan Dagli, Missouri University of Science and Technology Dr. Dagli’s research seeks to expand the software tool Mid-America Transplant Kidney Artificial Intelligence (MOMA-KI-AI) over the next two years. The tool, built in partnership with Mid-America Transplant, applies kidney policy assessment and two AI algorithms to evaluate whether kidney function is more viable than KDPI score alone indicates.

The goal is to address the pressing need to decrease kidney discard rates and maximize the utility and equity of kidney allocation. Dr. Kevin Bennett, Washington University in St. Louis Dr. Bennett aims to increase the number of viable kidneys for transplant by developing sensitive markers of kidney quality.

His three-year study will investigate a non-contrast ultrasound (US) imaging technique to better predict kidney function than the current KDPI metric and improve the assessment and allocation of donor kidneys.

In addition to funding clinical research that increases the availability of organs and tissues for transplant, the Mid-America Transplant Foundation works to improve the lives of recipients and donor families and reduce the need for transplantation through preventative health programs. The Foundation operates a Family House to provide housing to patients and families who must relocate to St.

Louis for pre- and post-transplant care and awards scholarships for nurses and other professions that are vital to organ procurement. Last year marked the most donors ever for Mid-America Transplant, with 299 organ donors and 2,667 tissue donors. Learn more about registering to be a donor at SayYesGiveLife.

org . Mid-America Transplant enables adults and children to receive lifesaving gifts through organ and tissue donations. For more than 40 years, it has facilitated and coordinated organ and tissue donation, and now serves 84 counties covering eastern Missouri, southern Illinois and northeast Arkansas that together are home to 4.

7 million people. It saves lives by providing expert and compassionate care for organ donors, recipients and families, and transforms the clinical processes required to recover and transplant organs and tissues.

Mid-America Transplant was the first such organization in the U.S. to use an in-house operating room for organ recovery and pioneered innovative models of increasing donor registry enrollment in an effort to provide organs and tissues to those in need.

It is federally designated as one of 56 such organizations in the U.S., and is the first organ procurement organization to be recognized as a recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for Performance Excellence. For more information, visit www. midamericatransplant.

org . this. classList.

remove('show-tooltip'), 2000); navigator. clipboard. writeText(window.

location. href);" data-tooltip="Link copied." > A Guide to Organ Donation Terminology The Complicated Role of Grief in Organ Donation How to Talk to Your Family About Organ Donation Someday, your 'yes' could mean the world By choosing to be an organ and tissue donor, you can bring hope and healing to your family and dozens of patients in need of lifesaving transplants.

1110 Highlands Plaza Dr. East Email: info@midamericatransplant. org