While increasing numbers of patients with advanced lung disease are candidates for lung transplantation, the short- and long-term outcomes are severely compromised by graft dysfunction, primarily in the form of organ rejection. The earliest manifestation of lung allograft dysfunction, termed primary graft dysfunction (PGD), represents a form of ischemia-reperfusion acute lung injury, and occurs in its severest form (Grade 3) in from 10 to 35% of lung transplant recipients 1-6. PGD is the primary cause of early morbidity and mortality after transplantation and is strongly associated with the late development of chronic lung rejection or Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome (BOS. Early graft dysfunction contributes significantly to the suboptimal outcomes of lung transplantation and to the failure of lung transplant recipients to achieve five-year survival rates comparable to patients who receive other solid organs such as the heart and liver. The risk of PGD further limits the time that lungs can be stored ex-vivo, therefore restricting the pool of available donors. A critical advance in the prevention of both early and late lung allograft dysfunction will occur if PGD can be successfully prevented or minimized.