Make previously unusable organs transplantable
The Quality in Organ Donation (QUOD) initiative aims to identify pathways of injury and repair in donors organs.
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NDS
Despite the advances made in recent years in the realms of organ donation and transplantation, a significant and widening disparity exists between organ supply and demand. This disparity is predicted to worsen over the course of the next decade making this the biggest challenge facing the transplant community today.
The QUOD initiative is led by Professor Rutger J Ploeg, Professor of Transplant Biology and Consultant Transplant Surgeon.
Despite the increasing awareness of the importance of transplantation there is a widening deficit between organ supply and clinical need. This pattern that is predicted to worsen over the next 10 years.
To address this disparity the transplant community has been turning to organs previously considered unsuitable for transplantation. This has included obtaining organs from extended criteria donors (older heart beating donors with additional co-morbidities) and non-heart beating donors.
The QUOD initiative aims to identify pathways of injury and repair in donors organs, identifying biomarkers which can be used to predict the outcomes of transplantation. The initiative also aims to be a platform for investigating interventional strategies in the donor, that can improve the outcomes of transplantation.
As of January 2020, the QUOD biobank contains samples from nearly 5,000 patients, has received 63 applications for research and has distributed over 13,000 samples. Studies supported by QUOD resources have yielded 7 publications, 3 doctoral dissertations, and 21 major conference presentations spanning proteomics, genomics, immunology, and other disciplines. Research projects have been conducted throughout the UK as well as in the United States, the Netherlands, and Germany, and QUOD has been engaged to support research with a range of high-level projects including the Human Cell Atlas, the PITHIA trial, UK Renal Imaging Network, NNRCO, and the Medicines Discovery Catapult. We invite any academic or industrial researchers interested in using our samples and data to contact us at research@nds.ox.ac.uk or visit quod.org.uk for further details.
Principal Investigator
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Rutger J. Ploeg
Professor of Transplant Biology and Head of Strategy
Our team
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Sarah Cross
QUOD National Operational Coordinator and Oxford Transplant Biobank Manager
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James Hunter
Academic Clinical Lecturer in Transplant
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Maria Kaisar
Researcher in Transplantation Science
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Meng Sun
Data Analyst and Coordinator
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Jonathan Milton
Oxford Transplant Biobank Coordinator
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Marta Oliveira
QUOD Laboratory Technician
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Hannah McGivern
Tissue Handling Technician (QUOD)
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Sophia Ali
QUOD Technical Assistant
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Philippa Wren
PA to Professor Rutger Ploeg, QUOD and Transplant Research Administrator
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John Mulvey
Research Scientist in Experimental Transplantation and Integrative Omics
Selected publications
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Effects of brain death and hemodynamic status on function and immunologic activation of the potential donor liver in the rat.
Conference paper
van Der Hoeven JA. et al, (2000), Ann Surg, 232, 804 - 813
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Renal expression of heat shock proteins after brain death induction in rats.
Conference paper
Bos EM. et al, (2005), Transplant Proc, 37, 359 - 360
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Kidney injury molecule-1 is an early noninvasive indicator for donor brain death-induced injury prior to kidney transplantation.
Journal article
Nijboer WN. et al, (2009), Am J Transplant, 9, 1752 - 1759
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Superior preservation of DCD livers with continuous normothermic perfusion.
Journal article
Fondevila C. et al, (2011), Ann Surg, 254, 1000 - 1007
Key aims of QUOD
- Increase the number and quality of organs procured from heart-beating and non heart beating donors for transplantation.
- Make previously unusable organs transplantable and increase the "donor pool".
Identify pathways
- Identify pathways of injury and apply targeted interventions to repair donor organ injury.
- Translate validated experimental methods and technologies into clinical use and best practice protocols.
Streamline collaboration
- Identify bio-markers and functional parameters that predict outcome following transplantation.
- Streamline collaboration and dissemination between scientific and clinical experts in academic institutions across the United Kingdom.
Latest news
QUOD named UK Biobank of the Year 2022
The UKCRC Tissue Directory and Coordination Centre awarded QUOD (Quality in Organ Donation) at the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences first place in the UK Biobank of the Year.
QUOD enters partnership with Evotec
Evotec SE, a drug discovery and development solutions company, today announced a partnership agreement with the University of Oxford regarding access to biospecimens from the biobank Quality in Organ Donation (QUOD), an initiative of the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences (NDS) at the University of Oxford in close collaboration with the National Health Service Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) organisation in the UK.
QUOD Awarded Five-Year Funding Renewal from NHSBT
NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) has awarded £2.4 million to the Quality in Organ Donation (QUOD) programme, hosted by the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences at the University of Oxford on behalf of the national consortium of transplant centres, to extend the biobank infrastructure until 2025.