New QUOD Colleague Questionnaire – Kerry Clare

Kerry Clare – Oxford Transplant Biobank (OTB) Coordinator & QUOD Oxford Regional Operational Coordinator

What were you doing most recently before joining QUOD and OTB?

I was working within the Oncology & Haematology department at the Churchill Hospital, Oxford as a Clinical Coordinator.

What interested you about working with QUOD and OTB?
I have previous experience with haematology and lab work and thought a role within a research biobank sounded interesting and rewarding.

What does your role involve?
I am the Senior Biobank Coordinator for OTB & QUANTUM biobanks and the Regional Operational Coordinator for the Oxford region for QUOD. I retrieve and process donor samples, ensure accurate entry of details into the respective biobank databases and am responsible for the smooth running of the sample collection and storage process.

Lightning round time:

If you were stuck on an island what three things would you bring?

My dogs, a fishing net and matches.

Where’s your favourite place?
Cornwall – many memorable family holidays.

Finally, what kinds of enquiries should people bring to you, and how best can they reach you?

Any sample collection and/or processing enquiries for OTB, QUOD and QUANTUM biobanks. Email kerry.clare@nds.ox.ac.uk.

Spotlight on a QUOD Colleague – Dan Eggleston

For this edition of the QUOD newsletter, the spotlight shone on Daniel Eggleston who is a Senior Clinical Scientist within the field of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (H&I) at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and a Regional Operational Coordinator (ROC) for QUOD.

Dan’s first foray into the field of organ transplantation began following his undergraduate studies in Biochemistry at Royal Holloway University, where it became clear that he wanted to pursue the applied sciences more. He completed a master’s degree in Transfusion and Transplantation Science at Bristol University before joining Anthony Nolan, a charity dedicated to matching potential donors on a growing stem cell register to patients with blood cancer and blood disorders. The organisation also facilitates research working towards improving survival rates and quality of life after transplantation, providing post-transplant care.

When asked what advice he would give to any graduate students looking for a foothold in the applied sciences, which is often competitive as entry level positions are highly sought-after, he advised reaching out to relevant companies, making connections and being persistent. Dan also recommended tailoring the application to focus on experience garnered while completing University projects that are relevant to the skillset outlined for the position.  

As a Senior Clinical Scientist for a H&I laboratory, Dan uses Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) techniques to identify patient and donor Human Leucocyte Antigens (HLA) supporting organ transplantation (such as kidney, heart, lung, islet and pancreas), as well as stem cell and bone marrow transplantation, of which Dan is a donor himself. Dan can often be found on call, assessing the HLA type of a potential deceased organ donor, and creating a crossmatch or compatibility assessment to test if an organ from a potential donor can proceed to transplantation. Dan finds the on call work the most rewarding aspect of his role, though he has noted how challenging it can be during this time when balancing all the different offers of transplantation from potential donors across the country and trying to help as many patients and potential transplant recipients as possible following delays attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

When not using his favourite piece of equipment in the lab, a PCR system for rapid cycling and tissue typing called the LightCycler, Dan supports the work of QUOD as a Regional Operational Coordinator (ROC) with Manchester being one of the regional centres for the biobank. This role involves taking receipt of QUOD boxes from the Manchester organ retrieval team, then centrifuging, aliquoting and freezing the blood, urine and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples, and shipping the box containing tissue biopsies to the hub at Oxford. Dan is also responsible for adding information from the QUOD worksheet to the QUOD database, which is integral for maintaining the traceability of the samples collected from a particular donor. Further to this, Dan has recently become the ROC representative on the QUOD Steering Committee. Part of this role is to provide feedback on research proposals submitted to QUOD. Dan remarked how interesting he finds this work as it shows where the samples, that he is involved in processing, are being used. He can then feed this information back to the team based in the H&I lab in Manchester, so they can stay well informed regarding the application of the biobank samples to current research.

In the last year, Dan has become a committee member for the British Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (BSHI), a national, professional body formed over thirty years ago that represents and supports the network of H&I laboratories across the UK. The objectives of the society are to encourage the advancement of scientific research and understanding of the application of these developments, as well as ensure the highest professional standards of competence are met by providing guidelines for best practice, training opportunities and CPD schemes for career progression. To this end, Dan has also taken part in a Higher Specialist Scientific Training Programme, funded by NHS England, all about leadership in healthcare. Dan also mentioned how he is looking forward to the next BSHI conference which is due to be held where he is based in Manchester next year.

Dan’s dedication and interest in facilitating transplantation research extends beyond his professional work, as he has helped raise money for Kidneys for Life, a Manchester-based charity which focuses on funding research into kidney disease, transplantation, in addition to supporting renal and transplant patients. Additionally, Dan took part in ‘Race for Recipients’ as part of National Organ Donation week, in order to raise awareness and to honour organ donors, recipients and those waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant.

Although he no longer captains a softball team in a charity league, which was a pastime during this time at Anthony Nolan, Dan likes to spend his spare time (when not on call) playing squash, going for a run or playing video games.

European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) Congress September 2023

QUOD attended the ESOT Congress in Athens, Greece from 17th-20th September. This biennial congress brought together over 2800 attendees from across the world and we were able to meet and connect with a wide variety of delegates from our exhibition stand. Importantly, research using QUOD samples was presented in over 10 oral presentations and posters during the congress.

Out of more than 1000 abstracts that were presented, the Liver Atlas study, carried out by Hussain Abbas at the University of Oxford using QUOD liver samples, was included as one of only 11 abstract presentations as a ‘Scientific programme highlight’ in the ESOT Congress review: “Development of a novel ‘Liver Atlas’ to predict pre-retrieval steatosis may help to avoid discarding liver tissue – A novel, large-scale ‘Liver Atlas’ developed in the United Kingdom supported the use of pre-retrieval steatosis predictors and routine retrieval biopsy to avoid unnecessary viable liver discards”. To find out more, see page 16 of the ESOT Congress 2023 Review.

Dr Ivan Hartling, from the Big Data Institute at the University of Oxford, attended the congress to present his work using QUOD samples. Please see his summary below:

The European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) Congress was held in Athens, Greece from 17th – 20th September 2023. Additionally, on Saturday 16th, before the official start of the congress, there was an ESOT Science Day that featured a great series of basic science talks. The congress theme, “Disruptive Innovation, Trusted Care,” emphasized how innovation can improve access to transplantation.

Dr Maria Kaisar encouraged all our team members to submit abstracts to ESOT and travel to Athens. We were delighted that all our abstracts were selected for oral presentations and we were well represented at the congress. We presented a series of abstracts using QUOD samples to investigate how proteins in kidney donors associate with and predict kidney function post-transplant. Dr Philip Charles presented his work on “Age-Modulated Proteomic Signatures Of Donor Kidney Biopsies Associate With Below-Median 12 Month Outcomes”, Dr Sarah Fawaz presented “Circulating TNF-alpha levels in deceased donors associate with post transplant function in Kidney Transplantation”, Dr Ioannis Michelakis presented “TNF-α pathway activation on deceased kidney donors: a critical mediator of unfavourable post-transplant outcome”, and Rebecca Vaughan presented two abstracts, one titled “Changes In Endogenous Peptides In DCD Kidney Biopsies Associate With Prolonged Warm Ischaemia” and the other “Biological Injury Associated With Deceased Donor Pathways Reflect Differences In The Donor Kidney Proteome And Cellular Stress Responses”. 

I was honoured to have my abstract, “Identification of donor protein signatures that predict kidney transplant outcomes – ADMIRE study,” accepted as a late-breaking abstract. Both Dr Michelakis and myself presented in an early Monday morning session. Despite the early hour, the audience was alert, attentive, and asked many questions. 

As it was my first in-person conference in a few years, I was thrilled to have the chance to network with other researchers. The congress hosted a delightful wine and cheese evening, and throughout the event, attendees could mingle around the many industry and partner booths, including the QUOD booth staffed by Dr Sarah Cross and Philippa Wren. Overall, the congress was a great success, with excellent talks covering all aspects of transplantation. I am looking forward to the next ESOT congress, which will be held in London from June 29 to July 2, 2025.