The PRELUDE project (« Perfusion-based REgeneration of kidney grafts using Living stem cells or their DErivatives »), led by Dr Clara Steichen at the IRMETIST unit (Inserm U1313 / Université de Poitiers), has been selected as part of the National Research Agency (ANR)'s 2026 generic call for projects, in the « Young researchers » category. This national funding, lasting four years, begins on January 1, 2027, and notably includes the recruitment of a doctoral student.
The project builds upon previous work by IRMETIST published in 2024, which showed that injecting extracellular vesicles from urinary stem cells, combined with an organ perfusion machine, improved the short-term conditioning and preservation of kidney grafts. This treatment aims to mitigate the lesions caused by ischemia-reperfusion during transplantation.
The research will be structured in three stages: in vitro comparison of different cell therapy products to develop a score for assessing their regenerative potential and predicting efficacy, thus limiting animal models; elucidation of the mechanism of action of these products using spatial transcriptomics on isolated and perfused pig kidneys; and finally, injection of the most effective product in a renal auto-transplantation model, with a three-month follow-up to evaluate long-term efficacy.
Dr Clara Steichen works at the CHU de Poitiers in general biochemistry. The PRELUDE project is a team effort involving members of IRMETIST and European collaborators (Liège, Coimbra).
Additionally, Nicolas Mélis, holder of a junior professor chair at IRMETIST, has also secured ANR funding for his DIPPL project, which focuses on dynamic imaging of healthy and pathological liver using multiphoton microscopy.
