Funding Cycle VII – Letter of Intent Submission in October 2001

In the seventh ROTRF funding cycle, 124 letters of intent were received from scientists around the world. Over half of the applications came from the United States (54%), while 31% came from Europe, the major country being the UK (17%). Asia, Oceania, South America and Canada accounted for the remaining 15% of the applicants.

The Scientific Advisory Committee of the ROTRF evaluated all the applications, which were submitted electronically via the ROTRF homepage (www.ROTRF.org), on the basis of originality and scientific excellence. The top 22 applications were invited to submit full paper applications, and the 21 applications received subsequently underwent a second thorough review by the Scientific Advisory Committee and the Board of Trustees.

ROTRF Grants were finally awarded to 11 applicants: seven from the USA; and one each from Australia, Belgium, France and Italy.

The abstracts of the novel and promising research projects that received funding in cycle VII are presented on the following pages. Their research interests focus mainly on the improvement of long-term graft survival and prevention of chronic organ dysfunction, induction of tolerance, the development of new immunosuppressive agents, and the improvement of donor organ preservation.

In this seventh cycle of ROTRF Grant Awards, a total of 2.1 million Swiss francs was allocated.