Paris Transplant Group (PITOR)

Objectives & Topics
Members
Awards & Fundings
Publications

Objectives & Topics

The Paris Transplant Group is part of the PARCC and the PITOR institute (Paris Transplantation & Organ Regeneration Institute). It is dedicated to improving patient management and outcomes through the development and validation of AI prediction models, new technologies for advanced monitoring, and xenotransplantation. We connect immunologists, laboratory medical practitioners, researchers, nephrologists, cardiologists, pneumologists, hepatologists, pediatricians, pathologists, public health specialists, bioinformaticians, data managers, data analysts and AI specialists to foster innovation, collaboration, and excellence in patient care.

Our vision is to build the future of precision transplantation medicine by integrating clinical, biological, and technological innovations to improve patient outcomes, expand therapeutic possibilities, and strengthen the continuum between research and clinical practice.

Our main objectives are:

Develop and deploy advanced tools to enhance diagnosis, prognosis, and long-term follow-up of transplant patients.
Use cutting-edge research platforms to accelerate innovation and build the foundations of precision medicine.

Support innovation across the entire transplantation value chain, from organ preservation to regeneration.

Develop xenotransplantation as a transformative breakthrough to address the global organ shortage crisis.
Leverage large language models to enhance diagnostic automation, organ allocation, and patient communication, paving the way toward intelligent, adaptive, and personalized care.

More information on our website

Our main topics are:

#1 Developing the first AI Transplant Clinic

We are developing the prototype of the first AI Transplant Clinic (AITC), a groundbreaking initiative that is redefining transplant care by embedding advanced artificial intelligence directly into clinical workflows.

At its core, the AITC builds a dynamic digital twin for each patient, enabling real-time and personalized management. The clinic is being structured into specialized departments: organ allocation, precision diagnostics, prognostication, non-invasive monitoring, simulation, data integration, and AI research, each powered by validated AI innovations emerging from our team. Among these innovations are the iBox prognostic model, the Virtual Biopsy System, the Banff Automation System, and donor-derived cell-free DNA-based liquid biopsy. These tools enhance precision, reduce invasive procedures, and support data-driven clinical decisions.

The AITC also introduces new healthcare roles, such as digital clinicians and AI specialists, who work in synergy with traditional medical teams. Its architecture is supported by agentic AI systems, which are autonomous, reasoning agents that orchestrate data access, clinical communication, and interactions with predictive models. These agents ensure seamless integration between human decision-makers and the AI infrastructure, making the AITC a truly adaptive and intelligent ecosystem.

Through ongoing pilot implementations and real patient cases, the clinic demonstrates how AI-driven medicine enables proactive, personalized interventions and the simulation of treatment scenarios before they are applied in practice.

By developing the AITC, we are laying the foundations for a new era of AI-integrated, precision medicine, one that can extend far beyond transplantation to transform the care of complex diseases.

#2 The iBox prediction system

iBox is a decision support algorithm that integrates several types of variables: biological, histological, and immunological data, with the aim of predicting medium/long-term kidney transplant survival. This tool improves quality of life and graft survival through more detailed and personalized monitoring, as well as optimization of medical resources (better organ allocation, adaptation of care). It is now recognized by European Medecines Agency as a predictive medicine tool in kidney transplantation (and is being rolled out for other organs) and received favorable opinion as a prediction tool by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

In our team, the iBox is used as a risk stratification platform: it allows us to identify, from the post-transplant period onwards, transplant patients at increased risk of graft loss. It will also accelerate therapeutic innovation in transplantation by reducing the duration or size of clinical trials through a valid predictive tool.

We are working on integrating “omic” data, non-invasive biomarkers (cfDNA, etc.), and detailed immunology to enhance the predictive performance of iBox. We are also in the process of transposing the application to heart and lung transplants, as part of the “multi-organ transplant” dimension of our cohort.

#3 : Non-invasive monitoring of rejection with donor-derived cell-free DNA:

Organ transplant monitoring traditionally involves biopsies, immunological, histological, and functional analyses. However, these approaches are often invasive, sometimes delayed, or insensitive to certain early mechanisms of rejection or graft damage. The use of donor-derived cell-free DNA (dd-cfDNA) as a non-invasive biomarker of graft health is an innovative solution that allows:

Earlier detection of graft damage, which can allow for earlier adjustment of immunosuppression or intervention before irreversible graft loss.
A reduction in the need for invasive biopsies or better targeting of these biopsies.
Improved individual risk stratification of transplant patients.

Within our cfDNA platform, established in 2022, we have phenotyped more than 5,000 samples and integrated them into cohort studies with a view to early detection of graft rejection or dysfunction, to improve monitoring and management. We combine this approach with other markers (functional, immunological, histological) to develop multimodal predictive models.

#4 Xenotransplantation :

The shortage of organs remains a major issue in solid organ transplantation. Xenotransplantation may be a way forward in addressing this challenge. However, this clinical application requires a thorough understanding of the highly complex immunological responses associated with xenotransplantation: xenogeneic immune rejection, species incompatibilities, new infectious risks, etc.

Our ambition is, in collaboration with the NYU Langone Health Hospital, to decipher the mechanisms of the xenogeneic immune response, identify predictive signatures of rejection or dysfunction in this context, and contribute to the translation to human trials. In this process, we want to adapt our “precision diagnosis” approach to allografts to xenotransplantation, which involves implementing multimodal phenotyping of xenografts: histology, gene expression, immunology, non-invasive biomarkers, etc.

This will not only provide additional options for patients awaiting transplants but also advance fundamental research on the mechanisms of rejection, chronic inflammation, and inter-species immune tolerance.

Through these areas of focus, our team aims to push the boundaries of solid organ transplantation: not only by refining risk stratification and allograft management, but also by preparing for the arrival of new solutions (xenografts) to address the organ shortage.

We combine ambitious translational research (cohorts, biomarkers, advanced statistics) with a strong clinical focus and a vision of personalized medicine.

Members

Strategic Leadership

Alexandre Loupy

Team Leader

Marc Raynaud

Scientific Leader

Maud Racapé

Project Manager

Guillaume Mercy

Director of Partnership

Project management

Fariza MEZINE

Platform Manager

Anais Certain

Platform Manager

Elise de Combiens

Project Manager

Thibaut Thalamas

Data Manager

Clinicians, Surgeons and Researchers

Carmen Lefaucheur

Scientist

Antoine Roux

Clinician

Aurélie Sannier

Clinician

Guillaume Coutance

Clinician

Kevin Louis

Clinician

Postdoctoral Fellows and PhD Students

Erwan Morgand

Post-doctoral fellow

Romain Brousse

PhD Student

Marta Sablik

PhD Student

Agathe Truchot

Phd Student

Clément Delacroix

Post-doctoral Fellow

Evgenia Preka

Post-doctoral Fellow

Ivana Juric

Post-doctoral fellow

Alexis Piedrafita

Post-doctoral Fellow

Emilien Seizilles de Mazancourt

Phd Student

Alessia Giarraputo

Post-doctoral Fellow

Engineers and Technicians

Jessy Dagobert

Platform Manager

Iswan Ailane

Technician

Emilie Bacquer

Technician

Jessica Bastian

Technician

Clinical Research Associate

Siham Ferkal

Clinical Research Associate

Safia Yanes

clinical research assistant

Fatiha Saddedine

clinical research assistant

Chafa Ouchaou

clinical research assistant