2026 News Highlights

When Steven Kim, MD, began exploring new questions in xenotransplantation research in 2023, the path ahead wasn’t a paved yellow brick road. The field of xenotransplantation, which focuses on transplanting organs across species, continues to hold a reputation more in the realm of science fiction, thanks in part to challenges faced by pioneering transplant surgeon-scientists before advances in genetic engineering had caught up to their earliest attempts. As a result, despite wide progress over the past several decades, research can remain difficult to fund, particularly as federal support becomes more competitive and less predictable. 

In Dr. Kim’s case, moving forward with his research required more than an idea. It required the means to test it. 

A pilot grant from Emory’s Department of Surgery provided that opportunity.  

Launched in 2021, the department’s pilot grant program provides funding to support early research investigations and generate the preliminary data needed to compete for larger future grant proposals.  

“The pilot grant from the department allowed me flexibility in the questions that I was able to explore,” said Dr. Kim. “It allowed me to investigate cell types that the lab had not studied before – NK cells. This required developing new assays, new flow cytometry panels, and new ways of investigating a relatively sparse cell subset."  

That support enabled a series of exploratory studies in xenotransplantation, including additional preclinical pig-to-nonhuman primate transplants and the lab techniques not previously part of his research’s core approach. Among them was single-cell RNA sequencing, a next-generation method that allowed researchers to examine how individual cells behave and respond to the xenotransplantation at a highly detailed level.  

In any field of medical research, including transplantation, information on that level of resolution can be critically impactful.   

In a recent study published in Transplantation, Dr. Kim and his colleagues identified natural killer (NK) cells as a key component of the immune response in xenograft rejection. The study identified that the addition of αIL-15,known to suppress T-cell subsets and deplete NK cells, significantly improved xenograft survival and function. The research findings have led to work on another manuscript currently underway that is investigating the genetic and spatial profiling of immune cells in xenotransplantation utilizing single cell RNA-sequencing and spatial transcriptomics.  

“All of this,” said Dr. Kim, “started with the pilot grant providing the impetus.”  

At Emory, Dr. Kim’s research is focused on an important step in the xenotransplantation timeline: testing pig-to-nonhuman primate transplants in a preclinical model. While recent advances, including gene editing technologies such as CRISPR, have accelerated progress in the field, significant challenges remain. Among them is the need for robust preclinical data that can demonstrate both safety and efficacy before moving into human trials. Nonhuman primates play an essential role in that process. 

“Because people and primates are so similar genetically, if there’s something that works well in a primate, it provides the basis for developing it for clinical use in humans,” said Dr. Kim.  

Emory is uniquely positioned to conduct this work. As one of only a few institutions in the country to support nonhuman primate transplant research, the university is at the forefront of efforts to advance the field of xenotransplantation towards clinical application.  

The pilot grant provided the foundation for that work and was the catalyst for additional funding. Building on the success of his early research discoveries, Dr. Kim secured additional funding, including a Faculty Development Grant from the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and a grant from the Emory National Primate Research Center. Together, these additional resources have allowed his research to expand in both scope and sophistication.  

The work is deeply collaborative, drawing on expertise across disciplines including transplant surgery, immunology, pathology, and nanomedicine. Dr. Kim continues to work closely with Emory colleagues, including Drs. Mandy Ford, Chris Larsen, A. Brad Farris, Lily Yang, and Denise Lo to advance both the scientific and clinical research boundaries.  

Looking ahead, Dr. Kim aims to expand this work into liver transplantation, where chronic immunosuppression remains a significant challenge. While immunosuppressive therapies are essential for preventing rejection, they can also lead to serious complications, including hypertension, diabetes, and kidney injury.  

Current efforts are focused on developing more targeted approaches to immunosuppression. One promising strategy involves the use of hyaluronic acid nanoparticles (HANP) to deliver immunosuppressive therapies more precisely, which may reduce side effects while maintaining efficacy. These approaches, developed in collaboration with colleagues across Emory, represent a new step towards more personalized and targeted transplant patient care.  

As federal research funding becomes increasingly competitive and uncertain, programs like the Department of Surgery’s pilot grant play an increasingly more critical role in sustaining research and innovation. By supporting new ideas at their earliest stages, the program helps faculty generate the evidence needed to move promising concepts forward, sparking the change from initial questions into more fundable research.  

At Emory, that investment is helping to drive progress in fields like xenotransplantation, where stakes remain high. With continued advances and growing institutional expertise, the university is positioning itself as a potential site for future clinical trials.  

For Dr. Kim and his research, it began with a single pilot grant that provided the initial support needed to turn a question into a growing body of research with the potential to make a growing impact in the field of transplantation.