Research Profiles - Spare parts and unbroken hearts
It's something most of us don't think about very much. But when you or someone you love falls ill and needs a new organ, the subject of transplantation takes on an alarming urgency. It did for retired autoworker Lou LaPlante. When his son came down with life-threatening kidney disease, Mr. LaPlante didn't think twice about donating one of his healthy kidneys to save his son.
Organ and tissue transplantation is a recent phenomenon in health care. The first heart transplant only happened in 1967. Bone marrow transplantation – now an everyday treatment for leukemia – only came into common clinical practice in the 1970s. The first successful heart-lung swap occurred in 1981.
All of these life-saving procedures are products of years and years of diligent health research. And that research continues today, as scientists try to find new ways to reduce the incidence of rejection. The field of regenerative medicine is opening up new areas of investigation into using a patient's own cells to rebuild failing organs and tissue.
The four researchers profiled this month illustrate the full range of health research that CIHR enables – from basic research into how "antifreeze" proteins found in some fish and plants may hold the key to keeping donated organs on ice longer, to a patient-oriented investigation into the long-term health of kidney donors like Mr. LaPlante. We also highlight a paradigm-shifting approach to corneal transplantation that could solve the problem of years-long waits for donated tissue. And we look into attempts to counteract an unfortunate treatment complication that can make post-cancer life a challenge for bone marrow transplant recipients.
