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Newsletter 2011
Click here to download the PDF version of our latest newsletter.
'Taking Flight: Inspirational Stories of Lung Transplantation'
The
Margaret Pratt Foundation has been contacted by one of our supporters,
Samantha Durrant, who had a double lung transplant in 2009 due to Cystic
Fibrosis. Samantha recently contributed her story to a book called Taking
Flight: Inspirational Stories of Lung Transplantation compiled by
Joanne M. Schum who is an American lady 14 years post transplant due to
Cystic Fibrosis. Contributors were able to nominate a relevant health
charity and Samantha chose the Margaret Pratt Foundation as she had
admired Margaret's work and courage to have 3 transplants.
If you are interested in purchasing this book click here to view or purchase on Amazon. Thanks to Samantha for thinking of the Foundation and hopefully there will be many sales!
The Foundation is donating $107,500 in 2011
The
Margaret Pratt Foundation is pleased to announce that it will be donating $107,500 to The Alfred Foundation as part of its continuing commitment to lung transplant research which will provide:
1) Continued support for A/Prof Bronwyn Levvey as lung transplant clinical research coordinator. The request is for 0.5 EFT which is $45,000 per year.
Bronwyn continues to play a major role as coordinator of the chronic rejection research efforts, focusing clinical, database and organizational skills to a very complex field. Her extensive background in the lung transplant field enables The Alfred to uniquely tackle large projects others cannot.
She will continue to collect short term and long term data on Donation-after-Cardiac Death (DCD) transplant outcomes. The team are currently writing up their initial experience with DCD transplants, noting less chronic rejection than associated with traditional Donation-after-Brain-Death (DBD) lung transplants. The aim for 2011 is to expand the data spreadsheet and, with the assistance of A/Prof Tom Kotsimbos' team and collaborators in the Alfred Department of Anaesthetics, attempting to explain the mechanisms behind these differences. The latter is a new project aiming to understand the hormonal and inflammatory effects of DCD and DBD. Part of this project will actually attempt to protect the transplanted lun from the adverse effects of brain death, so they work better in the short and long term,
Bronwyn will also be coordinating and collating results of changes in the hospital's immunosuppression protocol. In modifying the immune suppression protocol to focus on tacrolimus, instead of cyclosporine, the team are hoping for a lower rate and extent of acute and chronic rejection.
Bronwyn will continue to maintain databases that underpin the more basic research of Tom Kotsimbos' group, as well as the applied clinical research of Glen Westall.
2) Continued support for Aislin Meehan, a PhD Scholar.
Aislin is commencing the second year of her PhD and her work is already outputting interesting results on the effects of different immune suppressing drugs on subtypes of inflammatory cells (='NK cells') within the lung - cells that are linked to the development of chronic lung rejection. Aislin has now achieved NHMRC Monash University scholarship support, but The Alfred are seeking a further $7,500 as further research support from The Margaret Pratt Foundation to continue this work.
3) Continued support for Tara Bull, a PhD Scholar.
Tara is continuing her work in the role of Clara cells (a repair cell) to see if reduced Clara cell function is a risk factor for chronic lung rejection. Tara has already expanded into a large cohort looking at a protein produced by Clara cells called Clara cell secretory protein, and has demonstrated genetic abnormalities associated with poorer lung transplant outcomes. The Alfred out seeking a further full scholarship of $25,000 for Tara to finish her work in the final year of her PhD.
4) New support for Dr Nicole Mifsud PhD, as a laboratory investigator.
Nicole is taking on a new project as mentioned above in 1) overlapping with Bronwyn's role. Blood samples taken around the time of the actual transplant operation will be analyzed from lung donors and recipients (of DBD and DCD transplants), looking at patterns of inflammation, hormone and cytokine release. The team believe early signals will predict short term function of the lungs, and indeed set up the lungs immunological environment in such a way as to explain long term function and dysfunction (=chronic rejection). The Alfred are seeking $30,000 as 0.4 EFT to establish this project in 2011. They hope to establish pilot data to move forward to a larger grant to continue this project over a number of years.
Ten years on ...
The Margaret Pratt Foundation celebrated its 10th Anniversary in 2010. Professor Greg Snell summarizes below the impact the Foundation has made over these last ten years.
The Margaret Pratt Foundation (MPF) has made a major contribution to research into long-term dysfunction after lung transplantation. In supporting a range of initiatives at the Alfred Hospital and Monash University there have been tangible benefits in terms of exploring new and more durable types of donor lungs for transplantation, understanding the mechanisms of chronic rejection and chronic infection as well as assessing new therapies to protect against long-term lung dysfunction. The impact of these MPF supported studies and analyses are far reaching, making a real difference to individual transplant patients, and promoting the Alfred Hospital as world leaders in Lung Transplant clinical and research expertise.
MPF can lay direct claim to 41 medical publications, 2
completed Lung Transplant Doctorates of Philosophy (with 2 more currently
underway), 1 Dora Lust Monash University Fellowship, 1 Endothelin Science
Research Award and 1 Master of Science. The MPF has additionally supported the
achievement of 2 Medical Doctorates, 2 NHMRC Grants, I PhD and 1 Doherty
Fellowship. Recipients of MPF support are now leaders in lung transplant
programs in New Zealand and the United Kingdon.
This all lays a fantastic foundation for the next 10 years ...
The Foundation continues to support The Alfred
 Margaret Pratt passed away peacefully at her home in September 2009 but her giving spirit continues to live through her Foundation and its generous support of The Alfred.
A former patient of The Alfred and the first person to undergo three double lung transplants, Margaret was passionate about improving the survival rates of lung transplant recipients. The Margaret Pratt Foundation was set up soon after her first double lung transplant and supports the Alfred’s leading work in transplantation research.
Its support of the hospital continued in 2010 when Margaret’s husband and co-founder of the Foundation, Tony Pratt, and the Foundation Committee Chairperson, Ann Cohn, presented a cheque for over $110,000 for lung transplant research at The Alfred.
This wonderful donation will help continue to fund many research projects taking place in Allergy, Immunology and Respiratory Medicine. “An active research program has been developed in collaboration with the clinical service at The Alfred, which is focused on extending the life expectancy and improving quality of life for transplant recipients. The Margaret Pratt Foundation is proud to support these research programs”, Ann Cohn said.
The Alfred would like to thank the Margaret Pratt Foundation for their generosity and ongoing support of our work.
Caption: Clinical Director of Allergy, Immunology and Respiratory Medicine Professor Trevor Williams, MPF Chairperson Ann Cohn, and MPF co-Founder Tony Pratt.
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