December 23, 2024 marks the 70th anniversary of the first successful kidney transplantation in humans. This event has launched one of the most spectacular and consequential fields in modern medicine, saving over 1 million lives in the US alone. However, despite successfully integrating advances in surgery, immunology, genetics, pharmacology, and epidemiology, the ever-evolving field of organ transplantation has never been as challenging as it is today, as essential caveats and gaps in our knowledge remain. In practice, these present significant limitations for clinical organ transplantation but, at the same time, ample opportunities for insightful and ground-breaking translational research.
This Research Topic aims to facilitate a discussion on the future of organ and cell transplantation in 15 years. The Frontiers of Transplantation represents a perfect global platform for a multidisciplinary crosstalk between academic researchers, clinical scientists, and the biotech industry. It is urgently needed to move the field forward, eliminate the existing boundaries, and offer life-saving transplants to patients with terminal organ failure.
We hope to obtain a variety of viewpoints on how challenging current dogmas and status quo may shape the future of organ/cell transplantation by 2040. Topics covered within this selection include, but are not limited to:
1. Solving donor organ shortage
2. Targeting peri-transplant tissue damage
3. Refining organ preservation techniques
4. Acquiring operational tolerance, i.e. “one transplant for life”
5. Transitioning vascularized composite allografts (VCA) from research to standard-of-care
6. Recognizing growing ethical and psychosocial issues, e.g., body-to-head transplantation (BHT), perhaps the final frontier of organ transplantation.
Manuscripts may include comprehensive/mini-reviews, policy/practice reviews, hypothesis/theory articles, perspective articles, and opinion pieces.
Article types and fees
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
Brief Research Report
Case Report
Classification
Clinical Trial
Community Case Study
Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
Data Report
Editorial
FAIR² Data
Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.
Article types
This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:
Brief Research Report
Case Report
Classification
Clinical Trial
Community Case Study
Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
Data Report
Editorial
FAIR² Data
FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
General Commentary
Hypothesis and Theory
Methods
Mini Review
Opinion
Original Research
Perspective
Policy and Practice Reviews
Policy Brief
Registered Report
Review
Study Protocol
Systematic Review
Technology and Code
Keywords: Kidney Transplantation, Surgery, Immunology, Genetics, Pharmacology, Epidemiology, Translational Research, Organ Transplantation, Cell Transplantation, Organ Shortage, Peri-transplant tissue, VCA.
Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
