AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Solving Organ Shortage today announced the Phase One Strategic Research Goals identified by its Whole Kidney Research Community, a multidisciplinary group of senior academic investigators collaborating to develop techniques and technologies to regenerate failing kidneys or engineer replacement organs for use in transplantation. By identifying which challenges to tackle first, SOS hopes to focus the field and accelerate progress toward solving the worldwide shortage of donor kidneys that is expected to worsen in the coming decade as the population in industrialized countries ages.
The research goals were the result of the 2015 Kidney Regeneration & Bioengineering State-of-the-Science Summit, organized by SOS and led by Dr. Thomas Carroll, associate professor of internal medicine and molecular biology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Dr. Leif Oxburgh, principal investigator in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute. To gain a holistic perspective of the challenges, SOS convened transplant clinicians and senior academic investigators from multiple scientific disciplines, including developmental and stem cell biologists and tissue engineers. The two-day meeting enabled participants to share current research strategies and formulate a path forward.
Because the most common causes of chronic kidney disease are high blood pressure and obesity-linked diabetes, kidney disease is near epidemic. “It is a major health care burden affecting more than 26 million people in this country,” said Dr. Carroll. “U.S. taxpayers already pay over $40 billion dollars annually to treat end-stage renal disease and that number is steadily climbing.”
Over 85 percent of the more than 100,000 people currently on the waiting list for a donor kidney will not receive a transplant, according to Dr. Oxburgh. “For those who can’t get a kidney, only dialysis and supportive treatments are available. The average life expectancy for someone receiving dialysis is five years and quality of life is significantly impaired. Scientists are eager to provide a solution, but it will take close collaboration and dedicated funding.”
SOS, a global nonprofit, provides its organ-specific Research Communities organizational and administrative support to sustain forward momentum. Its main contribution, however, is raising monies to fund their identified strategic research initiatives. “Our goal is to award outcome-oriented grants to ensure consistent progress,” said Ronald Landes, president of SOS. “We focus our efforts on securing the financial contributions needed to support a science-driven effort to solve the organ shortage.”
About Solving Organ Shortage
Solving Organ Shortage is a nonprofit supporting a science-driven effort to regenerate or engineer replacement organs for human transplant by funding high-impact research projects. SOS Summits are designed to bring top academic investigators and clinicians together to form a virtual research institute focused on identifying strategic research goals that advance the organization’s mission to solve the organ shortage. For the latest SOS news and information please visit www.SolvingOrganShortage.org, or follow us on Twitter.
