School of Medicine
KUMC's Leadership in Polycystic Kidney Disease Affirmed with $5.5M NIH Research Grant
Oct 21, 2005
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| James P. Calvet, PhD, principal investigator for the grant, program director, and professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. |
"The grant will fund four major research projects to study cell proliferation in PKD and two pilot and feasibility projects intended to bring new investigators into the PKD field and assure long-term future research to benefit PKD patients," explained James P. Calvet, PhD, the principal investigator for the grant, program director, and professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
"We hope this research will lead to therapies that will slow the growth of cysts in PKD kidneys. Our long-term goal is to find a treatment for PKD that will alleviate the suffering of patients and their families affected by the disease."
KU Medical Center is a pioneer in the PKD research movement, which began in the School of Medicine in the late 1970s with the research of Jared Grantham, MD, University Distinguished Professor, and now involves hundreds of scientists worldwide. PKD is one of the most common of all life-threatening genetic diseases, affecting 600,000 Americans and an estimated 12.5 million people worldwide. It is more common than cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and sickle cell anemia combined. There is no known cure or treatment for PKD other than dialysis or kidney transplant.
"Competing with other major centers across the country and being a recipient of this NIH program grant is a major coup for KUMC," said Barbara Atkinson, MD, executive vice chancellor and executive dean, KU School of Medicine. "KUMC is a pioneer and national leader in PKD research and this grant will allow us to continue to make discoveries that will eventually lead to new cures, treatments and therapies."
The four major research projects will study various aspects of a calcium defect in cells that triggers the abnormal cell proliferation and cyst formation that characterize PKD kidneys. Enlarged polycystic kidneys eventually lead to end-stage renal disease.
"We are all looking at various aspects of cell proliferation and what we can do to intervene in the process to overcome this abnormality," Calvet added.
In addition to Calvet, other KUMC researchers funded by this grant include Darren Wallace, PhD, research assistant professor, Internal Medicine; Robin Maser, PhD, research associate professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Gregory Vanden Heuvel, PhD, assistant professor, Anatomy and Cell Biology; and Zhousheng Xiao, MD, PhD, research assistant professor, Internal Medicine.
The grant will also fund an Administrative Core that will provide administrative support for the Center's investigators and a Biomaterials Research Core that will establish and maintain a repository of human and animal biological materials for PKD research. These will include primary cultured cells and tissues and DNA and RNA from both PKD and normal human kidney tissues. The Core will also establish and maintain immortalized cell lines from mice carrying unique PKD gene mutations and will provide technical assistance and training in cell culture methodology for all center investigators. Email this article | View All School of Medicine News | School of Medicine web site
