National Donate Life Month: Fundamental Jackson Laboratory Discovery Forms Basis of Modern Transplantation Success

Date: April 19, 2005

Bar Harbor, Maine - Each day, an average of 74 Americans receive organ transplants, while 17 people die because of a shortage of donors. April is designated National Donate Life Month in order to raise public awareness of the need for organ, tissue, marrow and blood donation. More than 87,000 people await the gift of life.

Organ transplantation would not be possible were it not for the groundbreaking work of Jackson Laboratory scientist George Snell. During his 40-year career, Dr. Snell pioneered transplantation research through his studies of the genetics of tumor transplantation and rejection. For his work, acknowledged as the foundation of modern immunology, Dr. Snell shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Today, Jackson Laboratory Senior Staff Scientists Derry Roopenian, David Serreze, and Leonard Shultz continue to build on Dr. Snell's findings through their investigations of the genetic mechanisms underlying autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, lupus and type 1 diabetes.

Gifts for Life - a live auction to benefit the National Foundation for Transplants in honor of recent liver transplant recipient Tom Smith - will be held on Saturday, July 23 at Hannah's by the Salt Pond in Blue Hill. A preview and reception will begin 5:30 p.m. followed by the auction at 7 p.m. Admission charge is $35. High-end auction items include a visit to The Jackson Laboratory to lunch with prominent molecular biologists. For more information please contact Ginger Dewing at 374-2888.

The New England region receives the second lowest number of donated organs in the United States. For more information about organ donation and National Donate Life Month, please visit http://www.organdonor.gov/donatelife.htm.

The Jackson Laboratory, founded 75 years ago, is the world's largest mammalian genetics research institution. Its research staff of more than 450 investigates the genetic basis of cancers, heart disease, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, glaucoma, diabetes and many other human diseases and disorders. The Laboratory is also the world's source for nearly 3,000 strains of genetically defined mice, home of the Mouse Genome Database and many other publicly available information resources, and an international hub for scientific courses, conferences, training and education.

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Contact(s): Jade Harmer, 207-28-6051, jade@jax.org

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Media Relations, Communications Office
The Jackson Laboratory
600 Main Street
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609-1500
Phone: 207-288-6051
Fax: 207-288-6076
Email: news@jax.org