Do modifications in the recipient gut or lung microbiome affect development of tolerance and immunologic recovery after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) and can re-institution of a more normal microbiome lead to improved outcomes?

Advances in the care of pediatric patients with sickle cell disease ( SCD) have resulted in improved survival to adulthood.However, adulthood is marked by rapid disease progression, impaired quality of life and premature mortality. Hematopoietic cell transplantation(HCT) from matched sibling donor has curative potential, but has been offered mainly to children. Refinements in the conditioning regimen, supportive care,... more »

There is an increasing number of blood cancer survivors in the United States. Many of them have treatment induced heart and lung comorbidities (i.e CHF, pulmonary fibrosis, early aging, etc). However, there does not seem to be a concerted effort by the NHLBI to leverage their relationship with the NCI or the BMT CTN to address this issue. NHLBI should be developing a funding mechanism for cardiopulmonary researchers to... more »

In Acute Graft Versus Host Disease (aGVHD), we would like to examine whether early and intensified delivery of ECP as part of standard prophylaxis will decrease overall corticosteroid exposure while preserving expected relapse rates in patients undergoing unrelated donor hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT).
Chronic GVHD (cGVHD) is common after HSCT (30-50% recipients) and is a major contributor to late transplant-related... more »

Can cardiorespiratory fitness prior to hematopoietic cell transplantation be improved and will this limit morbidity and mortality following transplantation?

Can cardiorespiratory fitness prior to hematopoietic cell transplantation be improved and will this limit morbidity and mortality following transplantation?

How can the use of CAR T-cell and checkpoint blockade strategies be optimized in order to cure hematologic diseases?

Using knowledge of matrix biology and lung development, what are useable methods to modify cadaveric donor lungs to provide a durable, effective organ replacement therapy?

As in other solid organ transplants, adherence to the medical regimen after adult and pediatric lung transplantation is less than ideal and contributes to poor health outcomes.

a) How can we improve the prediction of which lung transplant recipients are at greatest risk for nonadherence?

b) What are the most efficient and effective ways of assessing nonadherence in the clinical setting?

c) Conduct clinical trials of... more »

Although the majority of lung recipients experience significant health improvement, they also frequently face serious symptom distress, impaired physical functioning and poor quality of life due to post-transplant morbidity, such as chronic rejection, infection and multiple side-effects of immunosuppression.

a) Conduct clinical trials of interventions designed to maximize clinicians' support of patients' self-management... more »

How can the relatively poor outcomes of lung transplantation be improved through better understanding of basic biology and/or clinical care?