While new treatments and better management of care are helping people with Cystic Fibrosis live longer, many will reach a point at which receiving a lung transplant is their only option to prolong life significantly. Despite this, nearly half of all people with CF on the waiting list will die before they receive a lung transplant.

We are currently co-funding, with the Health Technology Assesment, the DEVELOP-UK study based at Newcastle University which is assessing ways to make what would have previously been unusable donor lungs suitable for transplant. Unusable donor lungs will be placed on a modified bypass machine called an ex-vivo lung perfusion circuit. Researchers will then determine if this improves the function of the unusable donor lung and also assess its effects on lung inflammation, which predicts how well donor lungs work after transplant. This programme also involves the transplant services at Papworth, Birmingham, Harefield and Manchester.