LA JOLLA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Leading academic investigators and clinicians from the United States and Canada are gathering to participate in a landmark meeting designed to provide a rare, multidisciplinary overview of current cutting-edge lung research, and the most recent advances toward bioengineering human lungs for transplantation. Participants in the Lung Regeneration & Replacement State-of-the-Science Summit – an invitation-only event to be held January 22-23 in La Jolla – will also establish a working group focused on identifying next-step research initiatives that will move the field forward.
Solving Organ Shortage, a nonprofit funding high-impact research that addresses the organ shortage, is organizing the Summit under the leadership of SOS Chief Science Coordinator for the lung Dr. Laura Niklason, professor of anesthesiology and biomedical engineering at Yale University.
Lung transplants are currently considered the last resort treatment for those with severe pulmonary disease. In the U.S. nearly 12 million people have chronic lung disease, yet fewer than 2,000 will receive a transplant due to the extreme shortage of donor organs (SEE INFOGRAPHIC for details about organ transplant waiting lists). As a result, nearly 200,000 people die from end-stage lung disease every year.
“The goal of the Summit is to share data across multiple disciplines and spur creative thinking about new directions for lung regeneration,” said Dr. Niklason, the first scientist to engineer lungs capable of exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide. “The invited scientists represent a brain trust of expertise spanning lung biology, bioengineering, transplantation and lung disease management. Participants are performing some of the most promising research initiatives, and their work provides a unique current-state perspective.”
“The quest to build or remodel organs is gaining momentum as biology and engineering converge,” according to Dr. Ronald Landes, president of SOS. “The protocols to repair or replace diseased lungs will be developed at the bench by teams of highly inventive people working coherently in focused research collaborations. This Summit illustrates that the number of willing partners is growing.”
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 clinician scientists together to form organ-specific Research Communities focused on identifying next-step research initiatives that advance the organization’s mission to solve the organ shortage. SOS held its inaugural event, the Whole Liver State-of-the-Science Summit, April 2014 in Chicago and is currently developing the Whole Kidney State-of-the-Science Summit, slated for 2015. For the latest SOS news and information please visit www.SolvingOrganShortage.org, or follow us on Twitter.
