Towards integration of sex and sex hormones into transplantation precision medicine.
- Logistics
- Virtual
- Anticipated time commitment
- 9 hours
- Application deadline
- Type of Organ
- Heart
- Opportunity Type
- Research Partner
- Theme
- T4 - Optimizing Immune Systems, T5 - Restoring Long-Term Health
Men and women differ in how their immune systems work, how diseases progress, and how treatments perform. But despite being highly relevant for overall health, sex- and gender-related information (e.g., data on puberty, meno-, and andropause, menstrual cycle, fertility, and hormone levels) are only rarely considered when preparing treatment plans or predicting transplant outcomes for kidney failure patients.
This project aims to better understand how sex hormones such as estrogen and testosterone levels, influence recovery and long-term success after receiving a kidney transplant.
In blood samples collected from male and female kidney transplant recipients of different age groups, we will for the first time:
- Measure sex hormones and combine this information with existing clinical, genetic, and immune system data using advanced statistical and computational modeling. By analyzing how hormone and immune patterns relate to post transplant health, this study hopes to reveal why individuals sometimes respond differently to treatment.
- Ultimately, this knowledge could lead to more personalized and equitable care, informing treatment strategies that adjust hormone and immune function on an individual basis to improve patient survival and quality of life.
Experience required
The current opportunity is to support a grant development for CDTRP's Innovation Grant competition.
For this planned project, we are seeking patient partners of all genders who have direct kidney disease and kidney transplant experience (recipients or family caregivers).
Ideally, potential partners have a basic understanding of post-transplant challenges like immune suppression and recovery, and commit to a respectful communication and confidentiality with research data.
No advanced scientific knowledge is needed but - you might have guessed it - we will talk about sex hormones, puberty, andro/menopause, fertility and pregnancy :)
Potential roles for PFD Partners
The current opportunity is to support a grant development for CDTRP's Innovation Grant competition. To support grant development, the PFD partner can expect to meet with the researcher (30 minutes), review and provide feedback (1.5 hours). The PFD partner may be asked to help design the PFD engagement section of the grant.
If the grant is succesful, PFD parnters will:
- Attend ~6 virtual update meetings (approximately 1 hour duration every 8-12 weeks over the project period of 12-18 months) to review progress, share perspectives on findings, and to suggest patient-relevant questions.
- Review 1-2 lay summaries or visuals for knowledge dissemination (~30 min each).
- Co-develop a patient-friendly infographic on sex hormones in kidney disease and transplantation (~2 hours total).
- We are looking for 3-4 partners of diverse ages and genders.
Reimbursement
CAD $30 per hour