Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more
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transplant

Non-invasive tests for organ transplant rejection

Even with better immune suppressing drugs being developed for organ transplants, patients still require regular monitoring to prevent graft rejection. Kidney transplant recipients sometimes can be at risk even when standard blood tests for rejection appear stable.

To improve accuracy and avoid the need for frequent biopsies, several teams of transplant specialists are developing new urine tests for diagnosing acute organ rejection. These tests are non-invasive, could be administered often, and could identify immune events in real time.

At the American Transplant Congress this week in San Diego, Jennifer Jackson, MD, a nephrology fellow on the Emory kidney transplant team, presented research on a new urine-based test for the protein osteoprotegerin (OPG) and the chemokines CSCL9 and CXCL10.

Researchers found levels for all three markers elevated in patients experiencing acute rejection, but also in some patients whose grafts were supposedly “stable.” This smoldering inflammation could be responsible for chronic graft deterioration that goes undetected.

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Posted on May 5, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Biomarker may predict serious complications after lung transplantation

Researchers at Emory studying lung transplantation have identified a marker of inflammation that may help predict primary graft dysfunction (PGD), an often fatal complication following a lung transplant.

Primary graft dysfunction after a lung transplant

The results are published in the American Journal of Transplantation. First author Andres Pelaez, a pulmonary medicine specialist at Emory’s McKelvey Lung Transplant Center, and postdoc Patrick Mitchell led the research team.

“Despite major advances in surgical techniques and clinical management, serious lung transplant complications are common and often untreatable,” Pelaez says. “PGD is a severe lung injury appearing just a few days after transplantation. Unfortunately, predicting which lung transplant recipients go on to develop PGD has been so far unsuccessful. Therefore, our research has been directed towards identifying predictive markers in the donor lungs prior to transplantation.”

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Posted on March 17, 2010 by Quinn Eastman in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Tailoring transplant drugs for children

For adult organ transplant recipients, juggling a lifetime regimen of immunosuppressant drugs is difficult enough, but for children it presents an even greater challenge.  These drugs, which also can have toxic side effects, must strike a delicate balance between preventing organ rejection and protecting from infections.

But children’s immune systems are still “learning” what distinguishes them from the world around them, and children are constantly developing and changing, both physically and emotionally. This puts them at greater risk for complications either through inappropriate medication or failure to take these drugs properly.

A grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), will support new studies at Emory University and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to help clinicians tailor therapies specifically for children receiving transplants.  The project will include hiring of additional personnel to undertake these studies.

Allan D. Kirk, MD, PhD, is principal investigator of the project, which is supported by a two-year grant of nearly $1.65 million. Kirk is professor of surgery and pediatrics in Emory University School of Medicine and a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. He also is vice chair of research in the Department of Surgery and scientific director of the Emory Transplant Center.

The ARRA-funded project will not only help determine which medications children should take, but also will give them the support to care for their transplanted organs.  The Emory scientists are studying new biological monitoring technologies that can identify unique ways to determine exactly how much medication a child really needs. These studies are being combined with a novel transition care clinic specializing in helping children cope with their illness and assuming responsibility for their care.

“This award indicates exceptional insight by the NIAID into the critical link between a child’s physical well-being and their emotional maturity,” says Kirk. “It will accelerate progress in this vital area of research for a very deserving subset of chronically ill children.”

Posted on February 10, 2010 by admin in Uncategorized 1 Comment

ScienceWorksForUs highlights stimulus funding

Allan D. Kirk, MD, PhD

Allan D. Kirk, MD, PhD

A newly launched website, ScienceWorksForUS.org, highlights the scientific research made possible by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the stimulus bill.

Representatives of research universities joined Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress in Washington, D.C. this week to announce the new site, which links to Recovery Act-sponsored research in all 50 states. The Association of American Universities (AAU), the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) and The Science Coalition (TSC)spearheaded the initiative.

“ScienceWorksForUS is highlighting the way Recovery Act funds have made their way into academic laboratories, and reflects what’s possible when smart investments in the public sector are placed in the hands of our scientists, innovators, and academies of higher learning,” Speaker Pelosi said. “Through our ongoing support for researchers across the country, we will ensure that the Recovery Act was not the end of our investment in innovation, but the beginning of a sustained commitment to science.”

The stimulus contained $21.5 billion for scientific research, the purchase of capital equipment and science-related construction projects. The money represented an historic infusion of funding for research and an affirmation of the essential role scientific inquiry and discovery play in both short-term recovery and long-term economic growth.

Emory University scientists were awarded 153 grants from the National Institutes of Health for $53.6 million in the first year of two-year grants, and $417,000 for two grants from the National Science Foundation.

In addition to launching the new website, ScienceWorksForUS released a list of more than 50 ARRA-funded researchers and research projects from around the country. Allan Kirk, MD, PhD, professor of surgery and pediatrics at Emory School of Medicine, was featured for his work helping tailor post-transplant therapies to the needs of children. Kirk, who also is a transplant surgeon at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, the vice chair of research in the Department of Surgery and scientific director of the Emory Transplant Center.

Posted on November 19, 2009 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Children’s 1,000th pediatric transplant recognized

Emory University and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta transplant surgeon Stuart Knechtle, MD, and his surgical team recently performed the 1,000th solid organ transplant on a Children’s patient. The milestone operation was performed on a child who received a liver through the Children’s Transplant Center.

Stuart Knechtle, MD

Stuart Knechtle, MD

Knechtle is chief of the Emory School of Medicine transplant division and professor of surgery, and surgical director of Children’s Liver Transplant Program. Children’s Liver Transplant program was founded in 1990 and has completed more than 300 liver transplants.

The liver transplant team is made up of many individuals who contribute to its success – liver transplant surgeons, transplant hepatologists (doctors with expertise in the treatment of the liver), and a team of gastroenterologists, anesthesiologists, pathologists, radiologists, mental health specialists, chaplains, nurses, social workers and pharmacists.

For more than 20 years, Emory and Children’s physicians have been at the forefront of pediatric transplant care, achieving several groundbreaking accomplishments, including:

  • Transplanted the world’s youngest (10 days old) and three smallest (2 to 4 pounds) liver transplant recipients
  • One of the first pediatric hospitals in the United States to perform three heart transplants in 24 hours
  • At the forefront of its field with ABO-incompatible liver and heart transplants
  • Performed more than 450 pediatric kidney transplants.
Children's kidney transplant recipient Quinn Roberts, age 8, poses with her donor Cheryl Thomas

Children’s kidney transplant recipient Quinn Roberts, age 8, with her donor Cheryl Thomas

Posted on October 14, 2009 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Ventricular assist devices offer hope for heart failure

Emory doctors are leaders in a “destination” therapy program using ventricular assist devices for failing hearts.

The United Network for Organ Sharing says there are more than 2,900 Americans, 43 in Georgia, who are awaiting a heart transplant. Regardless of the number of donor hearts available, however, many patients are not candidates for a heart transplant for a variety of reasons including cancer, personal and religious beliefs, blood clotting problems, and other debilitating health conditions.

Right now there are about 5 million Americans who suffer from congestive heart failure, with another half million diagnosed each year. Many individuals are limited by the severity of their heart failure, yet are not able to be transplanted for one of many reasons.

With so many people awaiting precious few donor hearts, doctors are working to provide access to Ventricular Assist Devices (VADs). VADs are small pumps that are implanted into the chest cavity and help pump a heart that is no longer able to function properly on its own. This offers new hope and a greater quality of life for individuals who are not transplant candidates, patients who do not want a transplant or for people who may be transplant eligible in the future.

Many patients use VADs as a bridge to transplant – meaning they rely on the device temporarily until a donor heart can become available. Others are candidates for VADs as destination therapy, which means a patient is not a candidate for heart transplant or simply does not want a heart transplant – often because of religious or personal ethical reasons.

David Vega, MD

David Vega, MD

David Vega, MD, professor of surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, and director of Heart Transplantation/Mechanical Circulatory Support at Emory University Hospital, leads the pioneering VAD program. He says VAD destination therapy allows patients to resume many basic activities that they were unable to perform before the VAD.

Recently, Emory University Hospital’s VAD program recently the “Gold Seal of Approval” from The Joint Commission, which accredits nearly 16,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. Emory’s VAD program is the only certified program of its kind in Georgia. Learn more about Emory’s heart transplant program and its 500th patient.

Posted on September 29, 2009 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment

New tool in the fight for scarce donor organs

With so many men, women and children desperately awaiting a life-saving donor liver through traditional means – those donated by a deceased individual – transplant surgeons at Emory University Hospital looked for ways to improve the odds. transplantcenterlogo

Recently, Emory doctors were the first in Georgia to perform a rare “domino” liver transplant procedure – in effect saving two lives with one donor organ. The doctors had a opportunity to discuss the procedure at a media briefing held a few days ago.

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) says there are currently more than 16,000 Americans currently awaiting a liver transplant.

Domino liver transplant procedures are aptly named for the sequential, one-after-the-other nature of the process in which a viable liver from a deceased donor is transplanted into the first recipient, and the first recipient’s organ is then transplanted into a second recipient. The procedure is still extremely unusual, with fewer than 100 done in the United States since the first in 1996.

According to Stuart Knechtle, MD, professor of surgery in the Emory School of Medicine and director of the Emory liver transplant program, domino transplants are a rare but effective way of overcoming the national shortage of organs available for transplant. In most cases of domino liver transplants, one of the donated livers is transplanted from a patient with another type of disorder that does not affect the organ recipient.

“This successful domino liver transplant is something that simply does not start or end in a hospital operating room,” says Knechtle.

Liver recipient Bob Massie discusses his “miracle.”

Liver recipient Jean Handler discusses being “thankful and shocked.”

“This procedure, which saved two lives,” says Knechtle, “and will impact both families for many years to come, is the end result of a long chain of special events, starting with the decision by one person to donate the gift of life upon his untimely demise, which in turn allowed the recipient of that person’s organ to then donate hers to another patient.”

You can view the full briefing at this web site.

Posted on August 27, 2009 by admin in Uncategorized Leave a comment
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