©
iStock
Professor Friend received the accolade for his 2016 article ‘Liver Transplantation After Ex Vivo Normothermic Machine Preservation: A Phase 1 (First-in-Man) Clinical Trial’.
The number of donor organs suitable for liver transplantation is restricted by cold preservation and ischemia-reperfusion injury. In the article, the research team present the first patients transplanted using a normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) device that transports and stores an organ in a fully functioning state at 37°C. This first report of liver transplantation using NMP-preserved livers demonstrates the safety and feasibility of using this technology from retrieval to transplantation, including transplantation. The team conclude that NMP may be valuable in increasing the number of donor livers and improving the function of transplantable organs.
The international award was one of three inaugural awards, in basic, translational and clinical science, announced at the 2017 American Transplant Congress, which took place from 29 April to 3 May 2017 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.