Roche Organ Transplantation Research Foundation

The Roche Organ Transplantation Research Foundation (ROTRF) is a registered Medical Research Charity that supports research programs by allocating operating grants to members of academic staff in universities, transplant centers and research institutes. The aim of the research must be to improve the outcomes of recipients of organ transplants.

The Mission of the ROTRF

The mission of the ROTRF is to advance the science of solid organ transplantation in order to improve the care of the thousands of patients undergoing transplantation every year. The results of the funded research projects will contribute to the knowledge about many aspects of the clinical and scientific transplantation; eg, the mechanisms of long-term organ deterioration, the consequence of tissue injury and the opportunities to intervene in these processes.

The Foundation

The funding of the Foundation consists of donations from F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. The Foundation is legally independent from F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. and is guided solely by the Board of Trustees according to its charter.

Seven Trustees, including a Chairman, are charged with developing the strategy for the Foundation, developing the policy by revising the charter, and providing the framework within which the scientific decisions of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) are made.

A minimum of twelve senior medical and/or scientific professionals, recognized in their specialty, make up the SAC. The function of the SAC is to evaluate, score and comment on the grant applications.

The Research Focus

The ROTRF supports important and innovative research projects relevant to solid organ transplantation, particularly where there is an unmet medical need. In order to foster and nurture scientific creativity, the ROTRF encourages researchers with innovative scientific ideas and approaches from outside the direct transplantation area to apply.

The Grant

The maximum amount awarded per grant is 300,000 Swiss Francs distributed over 3 years.
Depending upon the decision of the Board of Trustees and the SAC progressive, innovative and promising projects of high risk may be supported as proof-of-concept studies.
Grants are awarded biannually.

Types of Grant Awarded

Last year the ROTRF launched an initiative to fund more clinical research projects that promise to have a significant impact in the clinical setting in the near future. The ROTRF awards two types of grants:

Conventional Research Grants: For research projects relevant to solid organ transplantation.
Clinical Research Grants: For clinical research projects (eg, projects proposing work with human clinical material, organ transplant patients, human organ preservation, human transplant pathology, and other human transplant problems) that will have a significant impact in the clinical setting in the near future.

Additional Funding Opportunities through the New Joint ROTRF/JDRF Initiative

This year the Roche Organ Transplantation Research Foundation (ROTRF) and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF) are proud to announce a New Joint ROTRF/JDRF Initiative to support projects in immunology and biology research relevant to pancreatic islet transplantation, and transplantation solutions for human type 1 diabetes.

Investigators working in the fields of immunology and cell biology, gene therapy, cellular engineering, stem cell research (eg, generation of islet/beta cell source from stem cells or other cell sources, novel interventions leading to immune tolerance) and other approaches that are relevant to both type 1 diabetes and transplantation, are strongly encouraged to apply.

For more information, visit www.rotrf.org.

To access an ROTRF grant application form, click here.