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Updated: Mar 1, 2026
Innovative Strategies for Organ Preservation in Heart Transplantation: Uniform Cooling Preservation and Ex-situ Normothermic Perfusion
Published on: November 28, 2025
The promise of organ and tissue preservation to transform medicine
Sebastian Giwa1,2,3, Jedediah K Lewis1, Luis Alvarez4,5,6
1Organ Preservation Alliance, NASA Research Park, Moffett Field, California, USA.
Abstract:
The ability to replace organs and tissues on demand could save or improve millions of lives each year globally and create public health benefits on par with curing cancer. Unmet needs for organ and tissue preservation place enormous logistical limitations on transplantation, regenerative medicine, drug discovery, and a variety of rapidly advancing areas spanning biomedicine. A growing coalition of researchers, clinicians, advocacy organizations, academic institutions, and other stakeholders has assembled to address the unmet need for preservation advances, outlining remaining challenges and identifying areas of underinvestment and untapped opportunities. Meanwhile, recent discoveries provide proofs of principle for breakthroughs in a family of research areas surrounding biopreservation. These developments indicate that a new paradigm, integrating multiple existing preservation approaches and new technologies that have flourished in the past 10 years, could transform preservation research. Capitalizing on these opportunities will require engagement across many research areas and stakeholder groups. A coordinated effort is needed to expedite preservation advances that can transform several areas of medicine and medical science.
Insights
Advancing organ and tissue preservation is critical for transplantation and regenerative medicine. A new integrated approach combining existing and novel technologies can revolutionize biopreservation and transform medical science.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Regenerative Medicine
- Transplantation Science
Background:
- Current organ and tissue preservation methods present significant logistical challenges.
- These limitations hinder progress in transplantation, regenerative medicine, and drug discovery.
- There is a critical unmet need for advanced preservation techniques across biomedicine.
Purpose of the Study:
- To address the unmet need for advances in organ and tissue preservation.
- To outline challenges and identify opportunities in preservation research.
- To propose a new paradigm for biopreservation.
Main Methods:
- Reviewing recent discoveries and technological advancements in biopreservation.
- Integrating multiple existing preservation approaches with new technologies.
- Engaging a diverse coalition of researchers, clinicians, and stakeholders.
Main Results:
- Recent breakthroughs provide proof of principle for novel preservation strategies.
- A new paradigm integrating diverse technologies can transform preservation research.
- Significant opportunities exist for underinvested areas in preservation.
Conclusions:
- A coordinated, multi-disciplinary effort is required to accelerate preservation advances.
- Transformative progress in biopreservation can significantly impact multiple medical fields.
- Developing on-demand organ and tissue preservation holds immense global health potential.
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