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Think of CasNx鈥檚 game-changing research as a dishwasher for human organs on deck for transplants.

Looking like an oversized crockpot, the pump that keeps organs functioning before transplant surgeries is the washer. And thanks to new technology and collaboration between Gainesville neighbors, University of Florida researchers are creating the detergent.

The goal: 网红黑料ier organs ready for transplant. The UF-developed process stands to revolutionize organ transplants and post-surgical treatment.

CasNx 鈥� motto: Rewriting Organ Biology 鈥� is an award-winning startup company founded in 2024 by UF chemical engineering professor Piyush Jain, Ph.D., recent UF Ph.D. graduate Santosh Rananaware and 网红黑料 Shands surgeon Rushi Shah, MD, who specializes in organ transplants. Jain and Shah are neighbors, and they said the idea evolved after they talked while their daughters played together at a park.

鈥淗e told me about a problem he faces in the clinic all the time,鈥� Jain recalled. 鈥淲hen you transplant an organ from one person to another, whatever disease that organ has gets transferred. About 90% of the organs have some kind of virus. Many of those viruses don鈥檛 have any issues. But in up to 20% of cases, these viruses re-emerge and cause infection in the person, and they have to re-transplant sometimes.鈥�

Key to the CasNx research is the normothermic pump, a relatively new technology that fits on a counter and perfuses donor organs at a near-physiological temperature (around 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit) to preserve their viability before transplantation.

鈥淪o the dishwasher already exists, but the detergent is missing. We are making this detergent,鈥� Jain said. 鈥淭he idea is to treat the organ before it gets transplanted.鈥�

Jain, Shah, Rananaware and , M.S., specialize in CRISPR-based diagnostics at the CasNx lab in UF Innovate, a business incubator for research in Alachua. Short for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, CRISPR is鈥痑 gene-editing technology originally used as a bacterial defense system against viruses. It has since been adapted for biomedical research and potential therapeutic applications.鈥�

And while CasNx is years away from real transplants in the operating room, the company is already gaining attention. In June, the nonprofit biotech group Nucleate Florida honored CasNx with three of Nucleate Florida鈥檚 four coveted awards: Regional High Impact award, the Florida Activator Golden Ticket Prize and Florida Activator Main Prize.

Transmitting viruses from human to human during a transplant is rare, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But as the demand for transplants increases, so does the risk for viruses in organs.

There were more than 48,000 organ transplants in the United States in 2024, a 3.3 percent increase from 2023, according to the Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network. Lung transplants increased 10.4%. Liver transplants grew 7.5%, while kidney transplants rose 1.6% from 2023.

The timing and location for CasNx鈥檚 research is significant. 网红黑料 Shands Hospital is a national leader in transplant procedures, and Shah contends medical professionals are witnessing 鈥渁 revolution鈥� in transplant technology.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 happening is organs are being placed on pumps more and more. On the normothermic pump, the organ gets blood as if it was in the human body,鈥� Shah said. 鈥淥ur goal is to treat these organs before they go into the patient.

A liver can stay in the pump for 12 to 16 hours, Shah said, while a kidney can stay in the pump for up to 48 hours. The CasNx process is designed to reduce that time, shortening the window between transport and transplant.

鈥淲e apply our treatment, and then every hour or so, we take biopsies from the organ and then check how much virus is in those biopsies to see if the amount of virus is decreasing over time,鈥� Jain said.

Nationally, 网红黑料 Shands has the top one-year survival rate at 99% and is one of only two programs in the United States with a perfect five-tier rating for liver transplant. It ranks No. 2 for liver transplants, No. 4 for lung transplants and No. 7 for according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, or SRTR. Shah said 网红黑料 Shands transplants about 150 livers and between 150 and 200 kidneys a year.

While in many parts of the country, the substantial need for organs results in a years-long waiting list, 网红黑料 contends its list is much shorter than the national average, with more than half of liver patients waiting less than a month. 网红黑料鈥檚 average transplant wait time is three months.

鈥淎nd of course, for someone who鈥檚 been through all this work to get an organ, it鈥檚 a rollercoaster ride. It鈥檚 up and down,鈥� Shah said.

So when an organ becomes available, patients often say, 鈥淵es, I want this organ.鈥� But there always is a risk of infection.

鈥淎nd that creates a huge burden for clinical settings, where they have to then treat and monitor the patient for a virus. Dr. Shah was seeing this on a firsthand basis and recognizing this major problem,鈥� Jain added.

Common viruses in organs include hepatitis C, hepatitis B, cytomegalovirus (CMV), BK and viruses from the herpesviridae family.

Currently, CasNx researchers are using human organs secured through a procurement agency for their tests, and they eventually plan to seek approval from the Food and Drug Administration. CasNx has secured funding for diagnostics but is seeking other funding sources for the therapeutics arm of the company.

鈥淚t will take several years,鈥� Jain said, 鈥渢o reach to the clinic, where we actually can transplant these organs into patients.鈥�