On behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Roche Organ Transplantation Research Foundation (ROTRF), it is my pleasure to announce that in Cycle XV (submission deadline October 2005) and XVI (submission deadline April 2006), ROTRF grants were awarded to 16 conventional and 4 clinical research projects. In total, 2.1 million CHF and 1.5 million CHF were awarded in Cycle XV and Cycle XVI, respectively.

The ROTRF and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF) have joined forces in 2005 and created a new joint grant award. This initiative has attracted the interest of many investigators from around the world. Over 50 Letters of Intent were submitted for this joint initiative during the first submission cycle (deadline 1st April 2006). This grant specifically supports investigators working in the fields of immunology and cell biology, gene therapy, cellular engineering, stem cell research and other approaches that are relevant to both type 1 diabetes and transplantation. In Cycle XVI, three joint ROTRF/JDRF grants, totalling 700’000 CHF, have been awarded to investigators from three continents (USA, Australia and Europe).

The ROTRF continues to support high quality research of investigators working in the area of organ transplantation from around the world. We hope that the interest in these grant awards, ROTRF (conventional and clinical) and ROTRF/JDRF, will continue to attract many high quality and innovative applications.

In 2006 the ROTRF was present at two congresses, the 2006 World Transplant Congress in Boston, USA, and the Annual Congress of the British Transplantation Society in Edinburgh, UK. At these and other national and international congresses, several grantees have presented the results of their research projects highlighting the quality of the work supported by the ROTRF. This is further demonstrated by the quality of the project reports included in the ROTRF Reports, and the papers published in peer-reviewed journals.

Thanks to the generous support from F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd since 1998, the ROTRF has funded outstanding research projects which have contributed to the progress of understanding and improving organ transplantation. For this opportunity, the ROTRF is greatly thankful to F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.

The ROTRF Board of Trustees would like to thank the ROTRF Scientific Advisory Committee and the ROTRF grantees for their excellent work and support, which have contributed to the overall success of the Foundation. The ROTRF also wishes to thank the JDRF for their input and enthusiasm in joining with the ROTRF in the new grant award competition.

Finally, ROTRF wishes the newly-granted investigators of cycles XV and XVI success with their research.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees

Philip F. Halloran, MD, PhD, OC