UW Organ Transplant Program

Research Activities

The efforts of a dedicated team of transplant experts performing basic science and clinical research have placed UW at the forefront of transplant technology. Our transplant program currently carries more than $5 million in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for basic science research.

Organ Preservation

In 1968, research by Dr. Folkert Belzer, the late director of the UW transplant program, resulted in a kidney preservation machine that extended kidney storage time from 3 hours to 3 days.

In 1984, Dr. Belzer collaborated with James Southard, PhD to develop the use of an adenosine perfusate bath in the cold storage process, a technique that slows tissue degeneration during preservation.

In 1987, Dr. Belzer and Dr. Southard introduced a preservation solution that allows for the extended (30-hour) preservation of cadaver livers. This solution, now in use by nearly every transplant center in the world, has revolutionized liver transplantation by minimizing organ waste and expanding organ sharing, providing time for recipient preparation, and permitting semi-elective surgery.

The "UW Solution" has similarly extended pancreas organ preservation.

Research is ongoing to develop methods of extended heart preservation, to clarify the impact of "brain death" on donor organs, and to improve organ quality from non-heart-beating donors.

Anti-Rejection Methods

We have been on the forefront of the development of mycophenolate mofetil (CellCept®) a new immunosuppressive drug approved for use by the FDA in 1995, and have participated in multi-center clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness of other recently approved immunosuppressants such as thymoglobulin, tacrolimus and sirolimus. UW scientists have performed developmental work on vitamin D analogs for immunosuppression for which clinical trials are upcoming.

Our basic science research include: the use of monoclonal antibodies and immunotoxins to induce transplantation tolerance, which could provide transplant recipients with an alternative to lifelong immunosuppression; the role of TGFb in chronic rejection, which remains a major clinical problem in the field of transplantation; and potential transplant application of the embryonic stem cell.

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Transplantation - University of Wisconsin Department of Surgery
First published: 07/15/02 Last updated: 11/24/09 webmaster@surgery.wisc.edu
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