Project Grant R01DK145640

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases awarded The Regents of the University of California, San Francisco $562,826 on August 15, 2026, under the Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.847) to conduct basic research on irreversible electroporation (IRE)-mediated hepatocyte transplantation as a treatment for inborn errors of metabolism.

The research addresses the limited availability of donor organs for liver transplantation by investigating whether pretreatment of recipient liver tissue with IRE—a tissue ablation technology using electrical pulses to create nanoscale pores in cell membranes—can improve engraftment of donor hepatocytes without thermal damage or scar formation. The project comprises three research aims: determining the role of IRE-induced pro-reparative macrophages in donor hepatocyte engraftment through intravital two-photon microscopy, RNA in situ hybridization, and macrophage depletion experiments; delineating liver regenerative mechanisms that promote host and transplanted hepatocyte repopulation of IRE-treated parenchyma using lineage tracing; and advancing the approach toward clinical translation.

The award runs through June 30, 2030, with work performed at UCSF in San Francisco, California. The funding mechanism is a Project Grant, the standard assistance type for investigator-initiated biomedical research under NIDDK's extramural portfolio.