Organoids-;lab grown cells or tissues that resemble organs-;serve as a new tool for disease modeling, but researchers often have difficulty replicating the biophysical conditions in which the organs operate within the body.
This is especially true for modeling human diseases that require stimuli from cell microenvironments. Read more in News Medical Life Sciences.
“More than ever, living donors are coming forward and generously volunteering to give the gift of life to hundreds of PKD patients across America. These living donors make up a vital portion of the kidney transplants performed in the U.S. each year. About one-third of the kidney transplants in 2020 were living donations.
Right now, there’s no federal legislation protecting living organ donors from losing their jobs just for taking recovery leave for transplant surgery. Living donors also experience higher premiums and even denial of coverage for most forms of insurance. In fact, 25% of living donors are denied or charged more for life insurance.”
Learn more, here.
COVID-19 being what it is, Valen Keefer’s speech at the grand opening of CareDx’s newly expanded CLIA lab in Brisbane, California was a unique virtual event.
Valen was there as a virtual robot, sharing her inspiring story and leading the countdown for the ribbon cutting.
“Being a transplant recipient is a lifelong journey and having the opportunity to celebrate this new lab is so amazing,” said “Robot” Valen.
Valen’s journey as a multi-organ transplant recipient has been a compelling one—to say the very least.
She has lived through polycystic kidney disease (PKD), dialysis, lengthy hospital stays, a kidney transplant, and a liver transplant. She is a survivor through and through, with a prodigious passion for helping the transplant community.
Read Valen’s full story, here.