Silverstone Solutions is one of the Methuselah Foundation’s strategic investments made in support of the recently launched NewOrgan Prize. Silverstone’s Matchmaker product was recently featured in an ABC7 article and video:

Technology developed in the Bay Area could soon have a dramatic impact on kidney transplants. It is designed to help patients who need a matching donor and a new version may be able to pair up thousands of patients in a fraction of the time.

Maggie Ervin recently started a chain reaction. After listening to a documentary on organ donation, she decided to donate one of her two kidneys to a stranger, as an altruistic donor.

Rather than helping just one person, Maggie’s kidney was the first of a chain donation at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco. Over the course of the day, surgeons removed and transplanted kidneys among half a dozen people.

“It’s exciting. A lot of people are getting transplanted that otherwise wouldn’t have an opportunity to get a transplant,” said.

They are known as unmatched donors. Maggie’s kidney went to Fernando Rico whose friend Guadalupe Ramirez was not compatible. Instead, Guadalupe donated her kidney in Fernando’s name to a different recipient, whose sister then donated to another stranger.

Identifying and arranging these donation chains in time and space – a very challenging problem – is the benefit provided by Silverstone’s work.