Chong Yun Pang

• CDT Doctoral Researcher Supervisor: Professor Simi Ali
• Email: C.Pang@newcastle.ac.uk
• Project Title: Evaluation of nitrated chemokines to monitor ischemia reperfusion injury in organ transplantation

Institution: Newcastle University

Project summary: Organ transplant is an established therapeutic option for patients with end stage organ failure. To overcome the disparity between organ donor and recipient on the wait list, there have been an increase in the utility of marginal organs but they are often associated with increased ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) and poor long-term outcomes. One of the key orchestrators of IRI is CXCL8, an inflammatory chemokine. Although they play an important role, CXCL8 have not been validated as a biomarker for assessing organ damage. Previous work in the group have shown that reactive nitrogen species (RNS) produced during IRI nitrates CXCL8 and alters their functionality and detectability. Hence, I am developing an assay to detect the nitrated CXCL8 which could potentially increase the robustness of CXCL8 to be used a biomarker for transplant outcome.

Interesting Fact: I can strip a general-purpose machine gun in under 45 secs.