AATB Celebrates Innovation, Naming 2026 Grant Program Recipients

We are excited to announce the two research projects selected as recipients of this year’s AATB Grant Program. Following a rigorous review by the STAC Grant Subgroup, these proposals were recognized for their scientific merit, innovative approaches, and potential to advance the understanding and application of human allograft tissue. Together, the projects reflect the breadth of research supported through the AATB Grant Program and its commitment to advancing the field of tissue transplantation.  

 
Dr. Constanca Figueiredo  
Hannover Medical School, Institute of Transfusion Medicine and Transplant Engineering 
Generation of Immunologically Invisible Heart Valves to Improve Function and Graft Survival 

Dr. Constanca Figueiredo is Full Professor of Allogeneic Cell Therapy at the Institute of Transfusion Medicine and Transplant Engineering at Hannover Medical School (MHH), Hanover, Germany, since 2020. She studied Biology at the University of Coimbra in Portugal and completed her postgraduate training in Transplant Immunology at the Histocompatibility Center of Coimbra and the University of Minho. In 2003, she began her research on allograft engineering at the Institute of Transfusion Medicine and Transplant Engineering (MHH). After earning her doctoral degree in 2006, she continued to develop the Transplant Engineering research area at the same institute. Her research aims to genetically engineer allogeneic cell-, tissue-, and organ-transplants to prevent immune rejection and support graft survival after allogeneic and xenogeneic transplantation. She has developed forefront strategies enabling the genetic modification of solid vascularized organs and vascular composite allografts. 

This research seeks to develop a viable allograft heart valve that does not elicit an adverse immune response to recipients. To achieve this goal, the team plans to first develop a protocol to reduce HLA expression in allograft heart valves using lentiviral gene therapy. Using the developed protocol, the team then plans to characterize the transcriptome and metabolism of the genetically modified heart values, evaluate safety risks of mutagenesis and tumorigenesis due to modification, and perform biomechanics testing to ensure adequate performance upon implantation. The next aim is to assess the immunogenicity of genetically modified heart values using established methods. Finally, the team plans to investigate factors that impact heart cell viability to ensure that optimal donor characteristics and recovery conditions are used for heart values used for the novel allograft. 

 
Dr. SHUCHUN SUN 
Clemson University 
A Biomechanically Informed Framework for Donor-Recipient Size and Shape Matching in Meniscus Allografts 

Dr. Sun is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at Clemson University, where his research centers on an end-to-end framework for studying musculoskeletal structure-function relationships. In this framework, he integrates bioinstrument design, software system development, multiscale computational modeling, and explainable machine learning. Across multiple NIH- and AATB-funded projects, these components are not used in isolation but are jointly developed to ensure that data acquisition, morphology characterization, and biomechanical inference are tightly coupled and clinically interpretable. 

This research seeks to improve clinical outcomes from meniscus allograft transplantation by enhancing the size and shape matching between allograft menisci and the recipient’s knee geometry. The grant builds upon AATB-funded work from the first year of the AATB grant program in 2024 to establish methods for obtaining clinically relevant 3D models of menisci and proof-of-concept finite element models between menisci and femoral geometry from CT scans. The team will receive cadaver menisci and pair them with CT scans based on the expected degree of mismatch. Those mismatched meniscus/femur pairs will then be used to establish relationships between surface contact shape indicators, primarily graft width, to contact-surface finite element models between the menisci and femoral CT scans. Using that information and methods, the teams plan to then establish tolerances for the mismatch between the meniscus and joint to aid tissue banks/clinicians in selecting menisci that adequately match the recipient.