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KidneyLink: Connecting Canadians to Kidney Research

Whether you are a patient, care partner, donor, or family member, you can make valuable contributions to research. Your skills and experience will help researchers understand what is most important to those with lived experience and develop better studies. That’s why The Kidney Foundation of Canada and the Can-SOLVE CKD Network have partnered to create KidneyLink, a national platform where you can learn about and connect to kidney research taking place across Canada. KidneyLink is your connection to kidney research teams across Canada looking to work with people like you. From a user-friendly portal, you can search for opportunities to get involved, learn about new research findings, and access research training and resources.

Apply by

Virtual
Identification and Prioritization of Postoperative Outcomes in Research with Multidisciplinary Stakeholders and People Living with Kidney Failure

Are you a person with kidney failure that has had surgery? Or do you have a family member or loved one that has? If so, we are inviting you to participate in a study to identify research priorities for people with kidney failure having surgery, approved by the University of Calgary Health Research Ethics Board (REB23-0749, Principal Investigator Dr Tyrone Harrison): Identification and Prioritization of Postoperative Outcomes in Research with Multidisciplinary Stakeholders and People Living with Kidney Failure. People with kidney failure have up to 16 times more surgeries than people without kidney disease. They also have worse outcomes after surgery including a higher risk of heart attacks and death. Current research for people with kidney disease focuses on outcomes that doctors and researchers think are important. In this project, we are trying to identify what is most important to people with kidney failure as they have surgery, to learn more about these outcomes and understand if tools should be developed to predict the risk of those outcomes. If you are interested in participating, please click this link https://survey.ucalgary.ca/jfe/form/SV_9mZmv4Ffety6LxY, and we will be in contact with further information and an electronic consent process. Please feel free to email Dr. Tyrone Harrison at tgharris@ucalgary.ca with any questions. Thank you for considering, Tyrone Harrison, MD PhD FRCPC Nephrologist and Assistant Professor Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Apply by 2023-10-31

Virtual
Qualitative Study: Gathering patient perspectives on inducing immune tolerance with regulatory T cell therapy

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are naturally-occurring immune suppressing cells that are critical for the prevention of inappropriate immune responses and for the regeneration of damaged tissue. The use of Tregs as a 'living therapy’ to prevent autoimmunity and transplant rejection is considered hugely promising and currently Tregs are being tested in early-phase clinical trials.  One limitation of current cell therapies is the fact that they are typically isolated from patient blood or a stem cell donor before being expanded to large numbers in the lab and re-infused into the patient. In this model, one patient generates one batch of cell therapy product. As this process is hugely complex and expensive, this limits the accessibility of this therapy.  Our group has been working to manufacture off-the-shelf clinical-grade Tregs that can be infused into transplant recipients to reduce the likelihood and severity of transplant rejection. We are the first group in the world to use human thymus tissue instead of blood as the Treg source. A portion of thymus is routinely removed during infant heart surgery and usually disposed of.  As the thymus is the place where Tregs are produced, we can isolate very healthy Tregs from a small amount of thymus tissue and grow them into large numbers. They are then frozen in batches so they can be used as an off-the-shelf therapy for unrelated individuals (allogeneic approach). The ability to treat several patients from one donor source with a readily-available product vastly reduces the cost and increases the accessibility of this cell therapy. To date, all Treg-based therapies tested in the clinic have been shown to be safe. While they are generally linked to reduced requirements for drug-based immune suppression and reduction of graft rejection, this emerging therapy would likely be much improved by use of healthier and genetically-modified Tregs. We plan to test our thymus-derived Treg approach for the first time in humans as a therapy to reduce graft vs. host disease (GVHD) after a blood stem cell transplant. A blood stem cell transplant is potentially a curative treatment for patients with chemotherapy-resistant blood cancers. However, GVHD, which occurs when the new immune system rejects the recipient’s tissue, is a devastating and common side effect of this type of transplant. Reducing the risk and severity of GVHD could greatly improve patient health outcomes. We are currently applying for Health Canada approval for this clinical trial and if successful, aim to do the first-in-man phase 1 trial in 2025 (funding allowing). As part of this project, we are trying to understand the patient’s perspective on the use of Treg cell therapies to induce tolerance in transplant patients.  

Apply by 2023-11-03

Virtual
Optimizing Care for Kidney Transplant Recipients Who Experience Graft Loss: A Forgotten Cohort

Dr. Shaifali Sandal and her team at McGill University are currently recruiting participants for a study called: “Optimizing Care for Kidney Transplant Recipients Who Experience Graft Loss: A Forgotten Cohort.” The purpose of this study is to understand more about the experiences of kidney transplant patients who experience the loss of their kidney transplant. The team also wants to understand the experiences of family members and close friends who have helped to support their loved ones during this difficult time. The broader goal of this study is to understand how patient education, preparedness and support could be improved.

Apply by 2024-01-05

Virtual
This opportunity is now closed

Inspiratory Muscle Training in Lung Transplant Candidates and Implications on Early Post-Transplant Outcomes: A Pilot and Feasibility Randomized Clinical Trial

Recovery after lung transplantation may be challenging after a long stay in the intensive care unit or hospital after surgery. The structure and function of the diaphragm (most important breathing muscle) is very important for good recovery after surgery. Training this muscle before surgery may provide "extra reserve" to cope with the stresses after surgery. Rehabilitation guidelines suggest that inspiratory muscle training (IMT) combined with standard whole-body exercises prior to major surgery can reduce post-operative complications and expedite recovery. In major thoracic surgery or organ transplantation, the mechanisms and clinical benefits of IMT have not been well established. The lung transplant population represents a unique group to study the benefits of pre-operative IMT. We propose to study 100 lung transplant patients awaiting surgery who will be randomized to receive either: 1) IMT and standard rehabilitation or 2) standard rehabilitation alone across 4 centers in Canada. Participants in group 1 will use a well-established respiratory muscle training device to train twice daily until transplantation. All participants will undergo standard rehabilitation until the time of surgery and 3-months post-transplant. In a subset of the 100 patients, muscle biopsies of the diaphragm will be performed in the Toronto program at the time of surgery. This study will determine if the research design is feasible. Secondary measures will evaluate breathlessness, quality of life, diaphragm function and cellular characteristics, and clinical outcomes 3-months post-transplant. This study will provide a unique opportunity to understand whether IMT is feasible across 4 transplant centers and get an assessment of post-operative outcomes and mechanisms underlying IMT. This study may serve as a model for examining IMT as part of pre-operative rehabilitation in a number of patient populations undergoing major surgery.

Apply by 2023-03-08

Virtual
This opportunity is now closed

EMPOWER: A 12-week online wellness program for people 50+ who have received an organ transplant

EMPOWER is a 12-week online mind-body wellness program for people who are 50+ and have received an organ transplant. The program will be delivered online, and include follow-along mindful movement, breathwork and meditation routines, and a psychology-based coping skills program. Participants may be assigned to start right away or in 3 months' time. As part of the research process, they may also receive weekly brief check-ins from the study team. Participants are asked to complete a minimum of 90-12o minutes on program content each week.

Apply by 2025-05-19

Virtual
This opportunity is now closed

Outcomes of organs transplanted after Medical Assistance in Dying in the province of Québec

Since the initial development of the program in 2017, donation after Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) has grown substantially in Québec. Today almost 15% of all donors in Québec come from this pathway and 182 organs were transplanted from 64 donors between 2018 and 2022. However, while transplant programs informally report that recipients of these organs have had favorable outcomes, very little scientific data has been published on the topic. Our project aims to evaluate how the patients who received these kidneys, livers, and lungs are doing after the transplant using standardized outcome definitions. We will compare to patients who received organs from traditional donation pathways such as after brain death or living donation. This will provide important knowledge that can be used to: encourage programs to develop or improve their donation after MAID programs; give patients who are considering donation after MAID more information about the impact their gift could make; serve as a pilot project for a Canada wide program that would evaluate similar questions.

Apply by 2023-04-03

Virtual
This opportunity is now closed

CARP COVID-19 Survey

In this survey, CARP is asking about your current perception of COVID-19. They are seeking greater insight into how immune-compromised people are navigating this 'new normal' way of life during the pandemic.

Apply by 2023-04-12

Virtual
This opportunity is now closed

Canadian Society of Transplantation - Abstract Reviewer for Annual Conference

The Canadian Society of Transplantation (CST) hosts an annual conference, which will take place in Oct 2023. Researchers and clinicians submit summaries of their research (scientific abstracts and lay/plain language summaries) which are reviewed by their peers from the scientific committee, and also by patient-family-donor partners to determine their suitability for teh conference. Top rated abstracts are also selected for awards, with 2 awards for the best lay/plain language summaries, selected by PFD partners.

Apply by 2023-05-15

Virtual
This opportunity is now closed

PROBE Pilot RCT

Kidney transplant rejection remains a major issue for children after kidney transplantation. Please note that rejection episodes are the primary contributor to premature kidney graft failure. Current clinical monitoring with blood tests like serum creatinine is ineffective in identifying early rejection. We have developed and validated a urine test called CXCL10 that effectively identifies inflammation within the transplant and is an early sign acute rejection. This clinical trial will evaluate how regular screening of CXCL10 can improve long-term graft function by effectively identifying and treating episodes of graft inflammation at an early stage before there is any detectable clinical impact from kidney damage. This study will randomize children who are more than six months after their kidney transplant to either receive the intervention of serial monitoring by urinary CXCL10 or will have samples collected as part of a control group. They will be followed for two years, two ascertain changes in kidney function in that time. The group that is assigned to do serial monitoring will have additional testing if the CXCL10 level is high and will receive treatment based on the additional testing which includes diagnosis of rejection. This 1st stage of the trial is to conduct a pilot study that will demonstrate the feasibility of the larger, definitive clinical trial. The goals will be to the establish that 1) we can meet a target to enroll and randomize an initial 60 patients from 3 centers to the study; 2) we can execute the logistical aspects of the trial including obtaining samples on time, CXCL10 testing and reporting, and application of the clinical protocol for positive CXCL10 tests; and 3) to determine the most economical approach for testing in the definitive trial. The findings of this trial will be used to support a subsequent application for a larger, definitive, multicenter clinical trial.

Apply by 2023-10-30

Virtual

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