On Thursday 7th November, the QUOD team attended the BTS Monothematic Meeting 2024 at King’s College Hospital, London. The theme of the meeting centred around ageing and transplantation and researchers and clinicians came together to examine major issues around ageing and deceased donor kidney and liver transplantation.
The first session of the day, which was on Basic Science, was chaired by Prof Menna Clatworthy (University of Cambridge) & QUOD’s Basic Science Coordinator Prof Maria Kaisar (University of Oxford), who have both previously used QUOD samples for their research. Menna Clatworthy presented her research that used QUOD samples to assess the biological age of DCD donor kidneys. Her group were able to identify a transcriptional signature associated with the biological age of donor kidneys, which has the potential to assist in decision-making around organ utilistation. The full findings of the study can be found here.
Annemarie Weißenbacher (Medizinische Universität Innsbruck), who has also previously used QUOD samples, discussed how technologies such as machine perfusion will help us use organs from older donors.
It was a great day of talks and an excellent opportunity to hear about current and ongoing research on ageing and transplantation. The QUOD team enjoyed connecting with the transplant community at the meeting.
