ATI Undergraduate Summer Student Award 2024

The Alberta Transplant Institute is delighted to announce the recipients of three undergraduate research studentships for the Summer of 2024. The annual ATI Summer Studentships allow undergraduate students the opportunity to undertake a summer research project in the laboratory of an ATI member. One award spanning various domains of donation and transplantation research have been contributed by the ATI. In addition, the Jamie Fleming Summer Studentship Award was made by a generous donation from Nancy Fleming, in memory of her husband, Jamie, and is awarded to an undergraduate student registered full-time at the University of Alberta for a research project relevant to lung transplantation. This remarkable initiative promises to nurture young talents and driving progress in the field of organ donation and transplantation research.

 

 

Joshua Bentley

Project title: Pulmonary hypertension due to interstitial lung disease

Supervisor: Dr. Rhea Varughese

(Studentship sponsored by Jamie Fleming Summer Studentship Award)

Please provide a short abstract of your project funded by the ATI summer studentship.
Patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) often develop pulmonary hypertension (PH). The INCREASE trial demonstrated that inhaled treprostinil can improve 6 minute walk distances for these patients. Our objective was to determine whether lung transplant recipients that had pre-existing ILD and PH would have benefited from inhaled treprostinil. Patients that met the INCREASE trial eligibility criteria had lower diffusion capacities, higher 6 minute walk distances, and less pre-transplant prednisone usage than those who were ineligible. There was no difference in post-transplant survival between groups. Only a small portion of lung transplant recipients would have been eligible for pre-transplant inhaled treprostinil.

How has the support from the Alberta Transplant Institute aided your success in conducting research?
Thanks to the ATI, I was able to step into health research immediately after graduating with my Bachelor of Science in Kinesiology. I appreciate having had the opportunity to learn more about health research and apply some of the skills and knowledge obtained from my degree program as I look toward further medical education.

How would you describe your research project in plain language for a general audience?
Lung transplantation is a life saving procedure for many people, including those with high blood pressure in the lungs due to a disease called interstitial lung disease. Treprostinil is a drug that may reduce blood pressure in the lungs and thereby improve the lives of these patients, especially while they are waiting for a transplant. We looked into the data of a number of patients who received lung transplants and found that only a small portion of these patients would have been eligible to receive treprostinil pre-transplant. Further investigation is required to evaluate how this drug may be used to help people awaiting lung transplant.

 

 

Pratham Patel

Project title: Partial Freezing of Liver Using Novel Small-Molecule Ice Recrystallization Inhibitors

Supervisor: Dr. Jason Acker

(Studentship Sponsored by ATI)

Please provide a short abstract of your project funded by the ATI summer studentship.
Oxidative damage, which reduces oxygen delivery and induces cell aging, is prevalent at lower storage temperatures. RBCs lose their ability to withstand oxidative stress as they age in circulation. Different donors have different relative amounts of biologically young and old RBCs, so mitigating oxidative damage could add equivalence and improve ex vivo use of RBC in ex vivo organ perfusion research. We sought to investigate the effects of N-acetyl cysteine supplementation on protection against oxidative damage of biologically young and old RBCs. This study provides some insight into young RBC’s greater responsiveness to NAC against diamide-induced oxidative damage, helping guide future RBC storage optimization.

How has the support from the Alberta Transplant Institute aided your success in conducting research?
I am extremely grateful for the support provided by the Alberta Transplant Institute because it has allowed me to learn the scientific method first-hand by enabling me to lead my own research project full-time. I was challenged throughout the project, whether it was during planning of the experiment, performing the experiment, or realizing adjustments needed to be made for future experiments. Persevering through these experiments enabled me to accept setbacks as an inevitable part of trying to become a better student researcher. I learned many technical skills, such as becoming imaging flow cytometry certified, performing red blood cell assays, and analyzing my data. Because I led the development of each step of the scientific
process, I saw the interrelations between different steps, how to design experiments that effectively answer the research questions, and the non-linear path that often characterizes a project.

How would you describe your research project in plain language for a general audience?
Red blood cells (RBC), the major cell component of blood that carries oxygen, are stored outside of the body after being collected from a donor at fridge temperatures (2-6 °C). This is done to slow down the use of limited energy outside of the body, and to slow down oxidative damage that naturally occurs during storage. Adequate preservation of RBC is essential for donating blood and for perfusing organs outside of the body. In the body, RBCs age and become less resistant to oxidative damage; each donor has a spectrum of old to young RBCs in their blood. We studied old and young RBC’s response to an antioxidant, a substance that protects against oxidative stress, against the artificial oxidative stressor diamide, and also against storage-caused oxidative damage by storing samples of different donors in the fridge for 3 and 6 weeks. Young RBCs were more protected than Old RBCs when supplemented with the antioxidant against diamide-induced damage. This elucidates young RBCs’ greater responsiveness to antioxidant supplementation when faced with oxidative stress caused by diamide. The results help guide future investigations into the mechanistic difference between young and old RBC’s tolerance to oxidative stress, an essential step in improving organ perfusion done outside of the body.