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ECP Awardee 2023

Dr Jordi Rovira graduated in Biology at the Universitat de Girona and completed his doctoral thesis at the Biochemistry Unit of the Faculty of Medicine from the Universitat de Barcelona. In 2006, he joined the Laboratori Experimental de Nefrologia i Trasplantatment (LENIT) under the direction of Dr Josep M Campistol. He was involved in the evaluation of the pathophysiological mechanisms of proteinuria associated with treatment with inhibitors of the mTOR pathway using experimental models of chronic renal failure and renal transplantation. In addition, he studied some side effects due to treatment with mTOR inhibitors; weight loss, diabetes, anaemia, testicular and pulmonary toxicities. In 2011, he began his postdoctoral stay in the Department of Experimental Surgery at the University Hospital Regensburg led by Dr Edward K Geissler. Dr Rovira was able to learn new experimental models; skin and heart transplantation, warm ischemia in liver and kidney, tumour progression and metastasis models, as well as flow cytometry and cell culture techniques. In April 2013, he returned to LENIT where he implemented all the techniques learned. Since the reincorporation, he has led together with Dr Diekmann several studies in the transplant immunology research field. He is currently involved in the search for new therapeutic strategies to prolong the renal graft survival in both animal models and, as far as possible, in clinical trials.

Dr Rovira has participated in the design and development of studies that include the use of different cell therapies; mesenchymal stromal cells and their extracellular vesicles, tolerogenic dendritic cells, extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP), as well as the generation of cytotoxic T cells with chimeric antigen receptors in kidney transplantation and kidney diseases. Recently, the European consortium for training doctoral students (Horizon-MSCA-2022-DN-01) called “Innovative Applications of Extracorporeal Photopheresis in Solid Organ Transplantation (exTra – 101119855)” has been created. In this context, Dr Diekmann and Dr Rovira will supervise a doctoral student to develop his doctoral thesis on “ECP as add-on therapy in high-risk kidney transplant recipients”.

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