Federal Project Grant Award Summary

Massachusetts General Hospital (The General Hospital Corporation) received a $416,622 Project Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under the Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.855) for the period February 23, 2026 through January 31, 2028. The award supports research on ex-vivo machine perfusion technology to promote tolerance induction in deceased donor kidney transplantation. The project aims to address a critical limitation in organ transplantation by developing methods to extend kidney preservation time beyond the current one-day maximum using warm perfusion platforms, thereby reducing ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) and enabling the induction of immunosuppression-free allograft tolerance. The research will explore integration of normothermic machine perfusion with transient hematopoietic chimerism induction strategies previously validated in living donor transplantation, with the objective of expanding clinical applicability to deceased donor kidney recipients.

The research deliverables will include advancement in understanding the mechanisms underlying immunosuppression-free renal allograft acceptance and evaluation of alternative preservation strategies using integrin-targeting interventions, such as anti-CD11B monoclonal antibody treatment, to mitigate innate immune activation during ex-vivo perfusion. Performance will be conducted at the awardee's Research Management Division in Boston, Massachusetts, with research activities designed to bridge preclinical findings from non-human primate studies to human kidney transplantation protocols that could significantly improve long-term graft survival and patient outcomes.