Congratulations to Dr. Adams, Dave Mathews, the Lab and Dr. Phil Santangelo, our collaborator, and his lab for receiving an NIH U01 grant to continue research on non-invasive detection of transplant rejection using ImmunoPET imaging. Current approaches to detect and diagnose rejection are retrospective and invasive. These methods assess the extent of end organ damage by insensitive and non-specific measures (e.g. Creatinine), or assess graft immune cell infiltrate and organ damage by costly and risky invasive biopsy. ImmunoPET imaging using T-cell specific radiolabeled probes allows for early non-invasive detection of rejection, mitigating the cost and risk associated with biopsy. With support from the NIH, we are excited to continue this valuable work that has the potential to reinvent the way we diagnose and treat allograft rejection.
http://www.news.emory.edu/stories/2017/07/adams_transplant_imaging_grant