Funding Cycle V - Letter of Intent Submission in October 2000

In the fifth ROTRF funding cycle, 119 letters of intent were received from scientists around the world. Almost half of the applications came from the United States (45%), while 38% came from Europe, the major countries being Germany (13%) and the UK (12%). In total, North America accounted for 49% of the applicants, and Asia, Oceania and South America together accounted for the remaining 13% of the applicants.

The Scientific Advisory Committee of the ROTRF evaluated all the applications, which were submitted electronically via the ROTRF homepage (www.ROTRF.org), on the basis of originality and scientific excellence. The top 21 applications were invited to submit full paper applications, and the 20 applications received subsequently underwent a second thorough review by the Scientific Advisory Committee and the Board of Trustees.

ROTRF Grants were finally awarded to 13 applicants: five from the USA; three from Germany; two from Canada; and one each from France, Italy and the UK (see the blue dots on the world map on the following page). Only two of the Grantees in funding cycle V are female.

The abstracts of the novel and promising research projects that received funding in cycle V are presented on the following pages. Their research interests focus mainly on the improvement of long-term graft survival and prevention of chronic organ dysfunction, induction of tolerance, the development of new immunosuppressive agents, and the improvement of donor organ preservation.

In this fifth cycle of ROTRF Grant Awards, a total of 2.0 million Swiss Francs was allocated.