Dr. Feng Yan
Gallogly College of Engineering researcher Dr. Feng Yan has received an approximately $1 million NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award to advance innovative imaging technologies for assessing donor liver viability before transplantation.
Yan, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, received the highly competitive award from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). His project, “Multimodal Imaging Platform for Pre-Transplantation Donor Liver Viability Assessment,” will develop advanced imaging technologies to provide a more comprehensive assessment of donor livers before transplantation, with the goal of improving transplant outcomes.
The K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award is designed to support outstanding postdoctoral researchers as they transition to independent faculty careers. The award recognizes Yan’s scientific accomplishments and will provide support as he advances toward an independent research career.
Yan earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 2024 and continued his research at OU as a postdoctoral fellow. He has played a key role in the Stephenson School’s organ transplantation imaging research, including recent work published in Science Translational Medicine focused on donor liver viability assessment.
Building on that research, Yan’s K99/R00 project will develop a multimodal imaging platform that integrates optical coherence tomography (OCT) with additional imaging technologies. By combining multiple imaging approaches, the platform aims to provide a more comprehensive evaluation of donor liver viability before transplantation.
The research addresses a significant challenge in organ transplantation: determining whether a donor liver is healthy enough to be successfully transplanted. Improved assessment methods could help researchers and clinicians better evaluate donor organs and ultimately contribute to improved transplant outcomes.
