Transplant Service

The Transplant Immunology Laboratory supports the solid organ transplant program of SUNY Downstate Medical Center. The lab performs serologic, molecular and flow cytometric assays for HLA typing, antibody screening and donor and recipient cross-matching for transplanting solid organs.

• Antibody Testing
• CDC XM
• Flow Cytometry Crossmatch
• Molecular HLA Typing
• Serological Typing

Operation Schedule & Staffing

The Transplant Laboratory is open 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Evening and Night coverage Saturday, Sunday and holidays: Monday to Friday 24 hours 7 days a week

Contact Us

Hours of operation:
Monday to Friday 24 hours 7 days

Director of Transplant Immunology
Allen Norin, Ph.D
Room ALL 1-517
718-270-2516

Supervisor, Transplant Immunology
Ballabh Das
Room AL-362
718-270-1915

Procedures

Transplant Immunology

HLA compatibility between the recipient and donor is the most important consideration during a donor selection process because the perfect HLA match reduces the risks of graft rejection and acute graft-versus-host-disease. The presence of performed anti-HLA antibodies against antigens in the donor may have adverse effects of organ failure or rejection.

Recipient Antibody Screening

To determine whether a potential recipient has preformed antibodies to potential donors, several tests are performed.

An antibody screen is performed, designed to give a rough approximation of the percent panel reactive antibody (PRA). This is done to list the patient on the national waitlist. In cases of living related transplants, an autoantibody test is also performed to see if the patient has antibodies to their own cells. Single antigen microarray bead tests are performed on patients with Class I and or Class II antibodies to identify unacceptable donor antigens prior to crossmatch.

This predicts how difficult it will be to find a donor who is compatible with the patient.

Donor and Recipient Crossmatching

Once a donor is selected and found to be available or if a cadaver donor is selected, serum from the recipient is cross-matched with the donor cells by flow cytometry and cytotoxicity to determine compatibility. Several serum dates are used to assure that the patient does not have antibody currently or historically. To find the best potential living donor, several such crossmatches may be done, one set for each potential donor.