NEW YORK, June 14 Clinical and basic science research findings of more than a dozen studies are being presented by researchers from the University of Pittsburghs McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the 48th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Artificial Internal Organs. The scientific sessions are June 13-15 at the New York Hilton Hotel. Highlights of the findings include:

• Filtering antibodies from blood may decrease the risk of organ rejection, William Federspiel, Ph.D., associate professor of chemical engineering and surgery and bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, graduate student Mariah Hout and their colleagues report. Dr. Federspiel, who is also director of the artificial lung lab at Pitts McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, said that experiments using a hollow fiber material similar to that contained in a typical dialysis filter showed that between 40 percent and 60 percent of targeted rejection antibodies were removed when the fibers were coated with specific antigens. These "specific antibody filters" are showing promise in initial lab tests and may eliminate the need for time-intensive plasma replacement therapy in immunologically sensitive patients prior to transplantation. Ms. Hout will be presenting this work Friday, June 14.

• An injected solution of blood-soluble drag-reducing polymers (DRPs) improved survival rates in a low-oxygen environment, according to work done in animal models by Marina Kameneva, Ph.D., research associate professor of surgery in the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, and her colleagues. Dr. Kamenevas research group injected a solution of such polymers at minute concentrations into the tail veins of experimental rats, which were then subjected to atmospheric pressure corresponding to an altitude of more than 25,000 feet. Control animals that had been injected with the same volume of saline solu
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