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Connecting DOTS - School Education Program

Marcelo Cantarovich

TTS President

Canada

The Transplantation Society is extremely pleased to have launched Connecting DOTs. Connecting DOTs is an online platform dedicated to educating schoolchildren on donation and organ transplantation (Donation and Organ Transplantation for Schools). It provides information for teachers, students and their families.

We encourage TTS members to review and promote this program to patients, families and educators to help teach young people about organ donation. It can be especially helpful for parents of younger transplant recipients to help teach their child and their peers about the importance of donation. Ultimately, our goal is to see this type of program in use in classrooms world-wide. The pilot program has been developed for English speaking Canadian youth. New versions can be built on the initial program and can be developed according to regional and cultural needs.

Feedback is welcomed. As well, those who are interested in working with TTS to disseminate this program to as many students as possible. Please contact: committees@tts.org.

Visit the Connecting D.O.T.S. page for details

TTS - Asian Society of Transplantation Collaboration <

TTS has partnered with the Asian Society of Transplantation (AST) to hsare resources and educational content. TTS has launched a platform for AST members to access educational material and AST has given permisssion to TTS for members to access highlighted videos from the recent CAST 2021 Congress. This will be the first in a series of collaborations with the AST and other TTS affiliated associations.

RESPECTABLE MEMBERS OF THE ASIAN SOCIETY OF TRANSPLANTATION (AST)AND THE TRANSPLANTATION SOCIETY (TTS)

We are delighted to open this website to share selected plenaries and lectures from the 17th Congress of Asian Society of Transplantation (CAST) 2021 for the benefit of AST and TTS members here in Asia and beyond. It has been a long goal of our society to create an educational and training platform that would benefit the members and trainee-fellows.

In recent years, AST has seen rising engagements and vibrant activities in mutually interested areas such as the Asian Transplant Registry (ASTREG), Women In Transplantation (WIT) and COVID-19 Transplant Registry, along with regional collaborations with the Vitallink Korea.

AST will continue to provide educational opportunities to its members and promote participation in regional and international collaborations to enhance the science and practice of organ donation and transplantation, especially in Asia. We invite everyone of you to support this endeavour and welcome any ideas or contributions to enhance this initiative further.

Our sincere appreciation goes to all the 17th CAST 2021 speakers who had generously agreed to make their lecture available on this platform , and to Dr. Marcelo Cantarovich and his TTS Technologies team, lead by Mr. Roberto Colarusso, for making this possible.

TTS Members Access to CAST 2021 Videos

Asian Society of Transplantation Website

Below is the link to the new Asian Society of Transplantation (AST) educational and training platform. To gain access, AST members must login through the AST website.

Asian Society of Transplantation Platform - asot.tts.org

Upcoming Free Webinars

Please note that this webinar will only be offered in its entirety live. No recording will be available after the live session.

Click for details

Women in Donation Event

Women in Transplantation (WIT) programming and events have covered many critical issues over the last decade, including a focus on gender in careers in transplantation.

This will be the first WIT event related to the careers of women specifically involved in donation. Presentations will highlight their career trajectories (e.g., how they became interested in the field, how it fits into their larger view of their work and essential issues that they think are important.)

This virtual event will include an overview of the Women in Transplantation initiative and several short presentations from Women in Donation (personal stories about experiences, challenges, opportunities), followed by open discussion and Q and A.

Click here to register!

TTS Early Career Members Committee - Quick Clip Interview

Visit the Quick Clips page to view all interviews

International Transplantation Science (ITS) Meeting

It is our pleasure to present the 2nd International Transplantation Science (ITS) Meeting, jointly organised by the American Society of Transplantation (AST), The Transplantation Society (TTS) and the European Society of Transplantation (ESOT).

The ITS Meeting 2022 is intended to provide in-depth, cutting-edge talks from leading experts addressing challenges that arise from connecting basic fundamental to translational science in transplantation.

The programme will embrace round table discussions with patients, abstract presentations, keynote lectures and more.

Abstract Submissions closes on 10/01/2022
Early Registration fee deadline is 15/03/2022

Announcement - MESOT 2023 will take place in Ankara, Turkey

Save the date!

TTS-ILTS Paired Transplant Centers Program

The TTS-ILTS Paired Transplant Centers Program is now accepting applications!

The TTS-ILTS Paired Transplant Centers Program is a collaboration between The Transplantation Society (TTS) and the International Liver Transplantation Society (ILTS) supporting new liver transplant programs in emerging economies.

Application Deadline: January 1st, 2022

WHO

An experienced transplant center in the developed world is paired with an emerging transplant center to facilitate vital multidisciplinary training and an exchange of knowledge and expertise.

WHY

The project aims to benefit both centers. The supporting center (SC) is involved in global health, and promotes ethical and competent transplantation in regions of the world with limited or no current access to transplantation. The emerging center (EC), connects with a multidisciplinary team of experts in transplantation from a world-leading center.

STEPS

Progressive steps associated with increasing funding as the partnership between the EC and SC grows.

GOAL

The ultimate goal is for Level 3 centers to graduate and become true local centers of excellence for regional training and support.

Visit www.tts-ilts.org for full details

Latest Video Additions

Hot Off the Press

«HOT OFF THE PRESS»
RECENT PUBLICATIONS IDENTIFIED
BY TTS EDUCATION COMMITTEE ON COVID-19

Articles this week reviewed by Dr. Enver Akalin

Pre-existing polymerase-specific T cells expand in abortive seronegative SARS-CoV-2

Swadling L et al.
Nature, published online November 16, 2021

This study examined blood samples collected in the first weeks of the pandemic from nearly 60 UK health-care workers. All worked in hospitals, putting them at high risk of contracting COVID-19, but never tested positive or produced any antibodies to the virus for four months after enrolling in the study.

The researchers noticed that in 20 of these ‘seronegative’ participants, T cells had multiplied and 19 of these individuals also had increased levels of an immune-system protein called IFI27, which the authors say might be an early marker of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The authors say that these data are evidence for ‘abortive infections’, meaning that the virus made an incursion into the body but failed to take hold. The authors hypothesized that T cells halt SARS-CoV-2 by disabling a cluster of viral proteins called the replication transcription complex, which helps the virus to reproduce. They found evidence to support this theory: a far higher proportion of the seronegative participants had T cells that recognize this complex than did health-care workers who got COVID-19.

Read full article

Untimely TGFβ responses in COVID-19 limit antiviral functions of NK cells

Witkowki M et al.
Nature, published online October 25, 2021

This study shows that viral load decline in COVID-19 correlates with Natural Killer (NK) cell status and that NK cells can control SARS-CoV-2 replication by recognizing infected target cells. In severe COVID-19, NK cells show remarkable defects in virus control, cytokine production and cell-mediated cytotoxicity despite high expression of cytotoxic effector molecules.

Single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) of NK cells along the time course of the entire COVID-19 disease spectrum reveals a unique gene expression signature. Transcriptional networks of interferon-driven NK cell activation are superimposed by a dominant TGFβ response signature with reduced expression of genes related to cell-cell adhesion, granule exocytosis and cell-mediated cytotoxicity. In severe COVID-19, serum levels of TGFβ peak during the first 2 weeks of infection, and serum obtained from these patients profoundly inhibits NK cell function in a TGFβ-dependent manner. In summary this study reveals that untimely production of TGFβ is a hallmark of severe COVID-19 and may inhibit NK cell function and early virus control.

Read full article