Training Course in Transplant Immunology
under the aegis of
Indian Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ISHI)
was held in New Delhi, India during 1-2 Dec, 2024

The two days ISHI Training Course was focused on Transplant Immunology, including all basic aspects and advanced cutting edge research and developments in applied Immunogenetics . A total of 45 participants from 19 cities of India (representing 13 Indian states) attended this training course. The course offered several learning opportunities to the attendees that are expected to be helpful in building a career in this specialization and also pursue research. The participants attended full course and actively participated in Q&A. A total of 12 lectures were delivered by course faculty and two panel discussions were held to discuss on deveoping an ISHI document on the standards of testing in this specilization and for discussing the queries raised by participants. The program also included two sessions where selected 12 attendes made a presentation of their ongoing research/patient care work or an interesting case from their routinne laboratory work. Two user group technical sessions were held and the vendors shared the products related to this specilization. Following topics were covered during the course lectures.

  • Structure of HLA molecule, MHC polymorphism, Diversity, Function and the Role in Alloimmune Response and Transplantation
  • The evolution of HLA typing technologies and the impact on donor selection strategies
  • Principles and systematic approach to characterizing clinically relevant HLA antibodies
  • Renal Transplantation and HSCT: current global practices and AIIMS experience
  • Cross matching methods and global practices risk assessment for clinical transplantation
  • NK Cell Immunogenetics: Role in transplantation and cancer immunotherapy
  • Donor Selection strategies for matched and mismatched HSCT
  • Chimerism testing for engraftment monitoring- technology advancements
  • Components of monitoring and quality Systems to ensure high quality testing in Transplant Immunology laboratories
  • The course faculty inluded Narinder K Mehra (President ISHI), Raja Rajalingam (UCSF, USA), Uma Kanga (Secretary, ISHI), Sandeep Mahajan (AIIMS, New Delhi), Ranjit Sahoo (AIIMS, New Delhi), Meenakshi Singh (ACTREC, Mumbai), Ajay Baranwal (AMC), Monika Jain (SGRH, New Delhi), Varsha Trivedi (Unipath Labs, Ahmedabad), Yoginder Pal Singh (Agilus Diagnostics).

    The training course was certified by the American College of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ACHI) and the attendees were awarded 18 hours or 2.7 Countinuing Education Credits (CECs). The attendees appeared for a pre and post course MCQ based evaluation test. Majority of attendees expressed that a practical training component be included and the course duration be increased. All of them emphasized that such courses be held annually. The feedback by attendees was excellent.

    Report submitted by

    Secretary- ISHI

    Dr Uma Kanga
    Department of Transplant Immunology and Immunogenetics
    All India Institute of medical Sciences,
    New Delhi, India