Organ Preservation Alliance

Organs and tissues are among the most precious resources that exist, saving and improving millions of lives through transplantation, regenerative medicine, and medical research. Supplies are severely limited, and for lifesaving transplant organs and many tissues, currently the only source is a person’s selfless decision to become a donor. We must make every one of these gifts count.

This makes the preservation of organs and tissues – the ability to keep them healthy outside of the body during transplantation, storage, transport, and other processes – a fundamental need in biomedicine. Advances in organ and tissue preservation can have a major impact on diverse areas of human health.

Building on recent advances in cryopreservation, organ perfusion, the study of animals that can enter ‘suspended animation’ in nature, and a variety of other platform technologies, the Organ Preservation Alliance is helping to bring about a world in which organs and tissues are as durable outside the body as they are inside it – with profound implications for science, medicine, and millions of patients around the globe.