# Mentored Patient Oriented Research in Lung Transplantation

> **NIH NIH K24** · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · 2020 · $119,570

## Abstract

The goals of the proposed K24 renewal are to continue to devote time to dedicated
mentorship of new clinical investigators, engage in career development to enhance my own
mentoring skills, and facilitate transition to independence for future POR leaders. These goals
will be accomplished through sustained reduction in Dr. Christie's clinical and administrative
responsibilities with a resultant increase in effort spent directly on mentoring activities,
expanding Dr. Christie's research program to include further investigation of the donor lungs,
and acquisition of new research and mentoring skills. Dr. Christie's successful research program
investigating acute lung injury following lung transplantation (termed primary graft dysfunction,
PGD) will be expanded to provide trainees with an intensive research experience complemented
by career development activities including didactic coursework in degree programs, research
seminars, grant writing workshops, and training in responsible conduct of research. The
proposed renewal of the K24 research will address the hypotheses that donor smoke exposure
is associated with epithelial injury and innate immune activation that begins in the donor in situ,
and that PGD can be predicted using molecular markers of innate immunity, epithelial injury,
and donor smoke exposure pre-operatively in donors. PGD is severe acute lung injury occurring
in the days after lung transplantation and has a major impact on early morbidity, mortality, and
cost. Evidence suggests that PGD is the end result of a series of injuries occurring in the donor
lung from the time of brain death to reperfusion in the recipient. Therefore, potential donor
organs are routinely discarded because of concern for PGD; further limiting the number of
organs available for transplant. Under Aim 1, we will determine the association of donor smoke
exposure with circulating markers of epithelial injury and innate immune activation in the donor
prior to procurement, and with PGD post-operatively. Under Aim 2, we will determine and
validate the predictive utility of circulating protein biomarkers of epithelial injury, innate immune
activation, and donor smoke exposure for PGD when measured pre-operatively in donors.
Fulfillment of our aims will enable prediction of PGD based on novel pre-operative donor
markers of injury and immunity, provide new knowledge on the roles of donor innate immune
activation and epithelial injury in PGD risk, develop an expanded research platform including
more detailed donor characterization to benefit mentees interested in lung transplantation as
well as in other forms of lung injury, and enhanced training for Dr. Christie in novel methods of
prediction and endotype determination, as well as expanded training in mentoring.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9986855
- **Project number:** 5K24HL115354-09
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Jason D Christie
- **Activity code:** K24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $119,570
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2012-08-03 → 2022-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9986855

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9986855, Mentored Patient Oriented Research in Lung Transplantation (5K24HL115354-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9986855. Licensed CC0.

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