Associate Professor KOTANI Yasuhiro at the Okayama University Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery has received a research grant from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) for its “2022 Research and Development Project on Technology of Medical Transplantation”.

The project aims to determine optimal transplantation methods, ascertain efficient transplantation systems that prioritize donor's wishes, and develop new transplantation methods that provide safe and long-term solutions for organ, tissue, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Associate Professor Kotani submitted a research proposal with the title “Research on Heart Transplantation from Marginal Donors or Donors that have undergone Cardiac Arrest for Clinical Application” to the project’s organ division under the category called “Research on Functional Preservation of Removed or Transplanted Organs in Organ Transplantation under Brain Death or after Cardiac Arrest” and was one of two candidates selected out of eleven applicants following a document screening and interview. The research project will run from 2022 to 2024.

Asked to comment on the successful application, Associate Professor Kotani expressed enthusiasm for the upcoming three-year research, saying “I hope that this research will lead to an increase in the number of donors, not only for heart transplants, but for other organ transplants as well, and that the results will help patients in need of organ transplants across Japan”.

Not only will this project advance the research and development capabilities of the university’s medical sector, which is already considered a strength of Okayama University, but it will also support the development on transplantation medicine and expedite life-saving treatments for a large number of patients. Please look forward to reading more about the activities of Associate Professor Kotani’s research team in the near future.
　
You can find more information about the project on the AMED news page (April 28, 2022).