Thank you for your interest in participating in one of our research studies. Our research is clinically-oriented, which means we are trying to understand how disease directly impacts patients. For example, we are studying what immune factors might contribute to someone remaining on life support for a prolonged amount of time after severe injury. Or what types of long-term complications patients might have from a respiratory virus infection. We cannot use animal or lab models to answer these types of clinical questions. These studies can only be conducted with you or your loved one’s generous participation.
Primary UW Contact: Debbie Wang – xw236@uw.edu
Primary VA Contact: Chelsea Schmitz – cschmitz@uw.edu
This study is called a “biorepository” because it collects and stores lung and blood samples from participants over time to allow future researchers to answer questions. As of 2023, over 300 lung transplant recipients from the University of Washington and VA Lung Transplant Program have participated in this study. Researchers are using samples from this biorepository to understand the immune factors that contribute to lung infection vs. rejection after transplant. Your generous participation in this study is leading to research that will hopefully help improve the lives of all lung transplant recipients.