Dr. Daniel Garry Secures $8M Grant to Advance Organ Donor Shortage

Professor of Medicine Daniel Garry, MD, PhD, of the Cardiovascular Division along with research partner Dr. Eckhard Wolf of Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, secured a five-year, $8 million International Network of Excellence Award from the prestigious grant-making Leducq Foundation, aimed at combating cardiovascular diseases across the globe. Dr. Garry is the first faculty member of the University of Minnesota Medical School to receive this groundbreaking research award.

Exogenic and xenogenic pig organs for transplantation into humans

According to the American Heart Association (AHA) and the Heart Failure Policy Network, Over 6 million Americans and 15 million Europeans are diagnosed with advanced heart failure. While the disease can be managed, the only curative therapy is a heart transplant.

Drs. Garry and Wolf are driven to address the lack of availability of donor hearts by opening up the possibility of using genetically engineered pig hearts.

“These humanized hearts will be evaluated as an unlimited source of organs for cardiac transplantation and provide a paradigm shifting platform for the treatment of end-stage heart failure. The publications and our preliminary data provide the rationale and the feasibility for the proposed experimental strategy.”

Learn more about the research project

The Leducq Foundation

The Leducq Foundation’s goal is to foster international relationships between researchers to improve outcomes and understanding of cardiovascular disease and stroke. The Leducq Foundation has been awarding grants to researchers since 2004 through their Networks of Excellence Program.