Congratulations to Dr. Travis Parsons, who is a co-investigator on a new grant entitled “Perfluorocarbon Oxygen Therapeutics as Additives to Preservation Solutions for Storage and Transport of Extended Criteria Donor Organs” funded by UF’s Department of Surgery.
In collaboration with Drs. Narendra Batulla and Kenneth Andreoni (Department of Surgery) and Dr. Jiepei Zhu (Department of Anesthesiology), the team will investigate whether the oxygenation of kidneys during storage and transport with the addition of perfluorocarbons to the preservation solution can improve tissue viability compared to storage and transport in preservation solution alone. Results from a proof of concept Medical Student Research Project in the summer of 2017 with Stephen Tapia-Ruano and Drs. Chris Giordano and Bruce Spiess led to the funding of this 1-year pilot study slated to begin July 1, 2018.
According to Dr. Parsons, “We hope that our efforts will one day lead to increased availability of viable organs for transplantation, thus decreasing the wait time and saving more lives of patients with end stage organ failure.” Dr. Batulla is the recipient of the Department of Surgery Research Career Development Award.