SEMINAR ; Dr Pedro VENTURA AGUIAR - “Multimodal diagnosis of pancreas graft rejection”

Dr Pedro VENTURA AGUIAR Nephrology and Kidney Transplant Department Hospital Clinic, Barcelona Invited by Aurélie Moreau

Dr. Ventura-Aguiar in a Transplant Nephrologist at Hospital Clínic Barcelona, Spain. He graduated in Medicine at University of Minho, Portugal, in 2007, and obtained his Doctorate Degree from the University of Barcelona in 2019. In 2021-2022 he developed a Fellowship in Transplant Immunology at Riella Lab, University of Harvard, Boston, USA.His research lines focus on pancreas transplant outcomes, transplant immunology and biomarkers of graft rejection, and endothelial damage in patients with diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease.Pancreas transplantation has one of the highest acute rejection rates among solid organ transplants - up to 30% during the first year. One of our major research focuses on characterizing pancreas-specific rejection phenotype, both through analysis of peripheral blood T cell organ-specific reactivity, as well as through transcriptomic (bulk, single-cell, and spatial) techniques elucidate the pathophysiology of pancreatic rejection.Another research are focuses on exploring the usefulness of tolerogenic dendritic cells for immune modulation and rejection prevention in deceased donor kidney transplantion, through in vitro and in vivo models of rat kidney transplantation. This work serves as preclinical study to an ongoing clinical trial (ICI21/00049).The group has explored the usefulness of plasma molecular studies as biomarkers for the diagnosis of pancreas graft rejection. We have pioneered the demonstration of the usefulness of donor-derived cfDNA (dd-cfDNA) and peripheral blood gene expression profiling (GEP) for the diagnosis of acute pancreatic rejection episodes (US patent filed). We are currently exploring a novel technique to quantify graft-specific cfDNA using specific gene methylation profiles.Finally, the group has experience in the study of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in various kidney disease models. We are currently exploring de impact in cardiovascular disease and endothelial dysfunction after pancreas transplantation.
Mis à jour le 17 mars 2025.