Research
Our Venture Grant scientists have achieved remarkable breakthroughs, including the discovery of blood biomarkers to detect transplant rejection and the development of revolutionary methods for controlling immune responses.
Our clinicians, who conduct practice-based projects, are dedicated to addressing the top priorities identified by donor families, living donors, transplant patients and caregivers, covering critical aspects of post-transplant care and innovative organ donation practices. By funding research grounded in patient priorities, the ODTRF actively involves patients and their families in shaping research and healthcare.
Venture Grants
The primary goal of the Organ Donation and Transplant Research Foundation of BC (ODTRF) is to fund innovative research in transplantation and organ donation through our Venture Grant Program.
This annual program provides seed funding to support research that will improve the lives of transplant patients and those who are facing organ failure.
A Family-Centered Initiative to Encourage Physical Activity in Children/Youth Living with Solid Organ Transplantation
Primary Investigator: Dr. Kathryn Armstrong
This study allows the team to learn from patients, to help change how they talk about physical activity, to increase support for those who find it difficult to be active and to generate new ideas from the knowledge gained.
Cytokine and metabolomic urinary diagnostics to predict and monitor treatment responsiveness of acute rejection in kidney transplantation
Principal investigator: Dr. Tom Blydt-Hansen
The team is studying substances in urine called metabolites, CXCL-10 and IL-6, to see if they can predict how well treatments will work in children with acute rejection, allowing treatment of acute rejection to occur earlier and avoid transformation to chronic rejection.
Research Challenge
The Organ Donation and Transplant Research Foundation of BC (ODTRF) is partnering with Providence Health Care (PHC) and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) to fund solid organ transplant related projects through their Research Challenge programs.
These programs are targeted at Point-of-Care Nursing and Allied Health Staff, and provide $8,000-$10,000 grants to qualified projects.
Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use in Post Kidney Transplant Patients followed by SPH post-kidney transplant clinic
Primary Investigator: Anja Webster
As part of this project, the team will survey the kidney transplant patients to determine the prevalence of NHPM use as well as information needs and comfort discussing NHPMs with the transplant team at St. Paul’s Hospital.
Patient and healthcare providers experience with the Pre-Transplant Coordinator role at Providence Healthcare
Principal investigator: Debra Fairhurst
Transplantation is the best treatment option for most people with end stage kidney disease. The transplant referral criteria and process is complex and often leads to confusion for both patients and staff.
Team Grant
The Organ Donation and Transplant Research Foundation of BC (ODTRF) is pleased to partner with Providence Health Care Research Institute (PHCRI) and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute (VCHRI) to fund two highly ranked Team Grants, one at Vancouver Costal Health and one at Providence Health Care.
Characterizing the cerebrovascular physiology of circulatory death during medical assistance in dying to optimize organ donation opportunities
Primary Investigator: Dr. Daljeet Chahal
Most organ donors are on life support in the ICU, and can undergo donation by two pathways. The first is called neurological death donation (NDD), where patients have completely lost brain function and donation can begin immediately. The second is called donation after cardiac death (DCD), where patients with remnant brain function are taken off life support until blood pressure is too low to support brain function.
Improving the journey of care of people with advanced heart failure and transplant: Implementation of a peer mentorship program in practice (PMP-IP)
Principal investigator: Wynne Chiu
This current study is to implement this mentorship program into SPH, turning it from blueprint to reality in practice. We plan to evaluate the success of the program implementation, and to see if patients feel that the mentorship program is actually beneficial to them.
ODTRF Clinical Research Grant
In 2015, Astellas Pharma Canada and the Organ Donation and Transplant Research Foundation of BC partnered to create a two-year research funding program – the Astellas/Organ Donation and Transplant Research Foundation of BC Clinical Research Grant Program.
This program was committed to supporting patient-focused, clinical and collaborative research that addresses barriers in the field of organ transplantation, contributing to improving patient care on a national scope.
Enhanced immune monitoring in pediatric kidney transplant recipients
Primary Investigator: Dr. Tom Blydt-Hansen
The project team believes that enhanced graft monitoring, with a new generation of urine and blood tests, would allow a better evaluation of rejection risk. The goal is to first confirm the feasibility of testing these markers in a clinical setting and to obtain critical information on the real-time utilization of the test parameters needed to design a definitive clinical trial.
Biomarkers of Transplant Viability in Marginal Donor Hearts
Principal investigator: Dr. John Boyd
The main objective of this proposal is to identify candidate genes and proteins that can be used as “biomarkers” (measure indicators) to identify when a DCD heart is too injured for transplant and therefore unsafe to use for a recipient.
Expanding Organ Donation in Different Cultural Groups in BC: A Feasibility Study
Principal investigator: Dr. Jagbir Gill
This study will look at ways to improve the process by which South Asian and Chinese families of deceased persons are approached to consent for donation in hospitals.
This study will, for the first time, offer solutions from the people directly involved in donation – the medical staff, organ donation specialists, and the families being approached.
Immunosuppression Reduction and the Risk of De Novo Donor-Specific Antibody Formation After Kidney Transplantation
Principal investigator: Dr. James Lan
The goal of this study is to describe the current pattern of prescribed immunosuppression reduction in the clinic and to understand the impact of this practice on DSA development, which portends poor outcomes.
Addison Pediatric Transplant Research Project
In 2013, Elaine Yong and Aaron McArthur launched the Addison Pediatric Transplant Research Project (the Addison Fund) with the express purpose of trying to ensure their daughter, and every other transplant recipient, has an opportunity to live a long, healthy life.
The number of children in B.C. who have received an organ transplant continues to grow exponentially every year as medical advances have made it possible for some of the sickest patients to survive. Now we need more research so they can thrive.
A Prospective study Evaluating COVID-19 Vaccine immunogenicity in Organ Transplant Recipients (the PREVenT-COVID study) – Pediatric Arm extension
Primary Investigator: Dr. Hana Mitchell
The PREVenT COVID study will help researchers understand how much protection (antibodies and T-cells) children with organ transplant have after vaccination and how long this protection lasts. This information will help public health officials make recommendations about additional doses of vaccines for this population.
Development and validation of a novel assay to quantify alloantigen specific T cells
Principal investigator: Dr. John Boyd
The team intends to develop a new test that will rapidly measure immune responses to a transplant using a small amount of blood. The test is based on a fascinating immunological phenomenon whereby immune cells from the recipient that want to kill the transplanted cells pick up proteins that are exclusively expressed on the very cells they are trying to attack, allowing us to quantify the number of these killer immune cells.