Exciting news for the future of organ transplants! A new genomics project led by the team at the University of British Columbia on behalf of the Genome Canada Transplant Consortium is pioneering a national Canadian epitope matching project for kidney transplants. This offers the opportunity to improve patient outcomes by reducing rejection rates and enabling the clinical teams to minimize the strength and complications of lifelong immunosuppression.
The 3-year, $5.8 M project is made possible by collaboration between the Canadian Blood Services, the Provincial HLA laboratories and transplant programs, BC Transplant, the Canadian Donation and Transplantation Research Program, UBC, McGill and their affiliated hospitals, plus the many industry partners including Illumina, NanoString Technologies, Omixon and Oxford Nanopore Technologies. The research is supported by funding from Genome Canada, Genome BC, Michael Smith Health Research BC, VCH Research Institute and VCH Foundation.
This project is a testament to the power of collaboration in advancing medical innovation.
Genome Canada announcement and more information on the project
Genome BC announcement