During the 2nd edition of the Wrocławska Majówka Transplantacyjna Conference, organised by the Jan Mikulicz-Radecki University Hospital in Wrocław and the Wrocław Medical University, the Ludwik Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy of the Polish Academy of Sciences took a prominent place among the honoured institutions.
The event brought together over 150 specialists from across Poland – transplant specialists, cardiac surgeons, anaesthetists, transplant coordinators, and representatives of healthcare institutions and public administration. This year’s event confirmed Wrocław’s growing role as one of the key centres for debate on the future of transplant medicine in Poland.
The Institute was honoured for its long-standing commitment to the development of diagnostic and translational research, which forms a vital foundation for modern transplantology – particularly in the fields of immunogenetics, immune response mechanisms, and diagnostics supporting the process of patient selection and monitoring following transplantation.
The work of the Tissue Immunology Laboratory at the IIET PAS Medical Centre, headed by Prof. Katarzyna Bogunia-Kubik, is of particular significance to this collaboration. A team of laboratory diagnosticians – including Wanda Niepiekło-Miniewska, PhD, Małgorzata Kamińska, MSc, Adriana Marcinów, MSc, and Martyna Maciaś, MSc – has for years been supporting transplant centres across Poland by carrying out key research in the field of transplant immunogenetics.
The Laboratory’s scope of activities includes, amongst other things, a range of tests for transplantation purposes, including: human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing, cross-matching between transplant donors and recipients, determination of anti-HLA antibody levels via panel reactivity testing, and the identification and characterisation of anti-HLA antibody specificity. This enables precise patient selection and enhances the safety of transplants.
The laboratory collaborates with numerous transplant centres and dialysis units across Poland, including the Jan Mikulicz-Radecki University Hospital in Wrocław, and plays a key role in the national transplant system. The unit is accredited by the European Federation of Immunogenetics (EFI) and holds international quality certificates in the field of HLA diagnostics.
It is worth noting that 27 May marks Laboratory Diagnostician Day, which provides a special opportunity to recognise the work of laboratory diagnosticians. It is their daily, often unseen work that forms the foundation of safe and effective transplant medicine.
This award for the Institute is a recognition of many years of collaboration, the shared aim of which remains to improve the quality of care and enhance the prospects for patients awaiting organ transplants.
The Hirszfeld Institute was represented at the conference by its director, Prof. Andrzej Gamian, PhD, DSc, together with a team of diagnosticians from the Laboratory of Tissue Immunology at the IIET PAS Medical Centre.
