Research Group
- Dr Konrad Famulski, Principal Investigator
- Dr Jeffrey Reeve, Collaborator
- Dr Declan de Freitas, Collaborator
- Dr Michael Mengel, Collaborator
Location
- University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
Title
- Identification of the Biomarkers of Tissue Injury and Age-Related Changes in Deceased Donor Kidneys at the Time of Donation
Many potentially useful deceased donor kidneys are discarded because of doubt about their future performance, which is poorly predicted by histopathology and demographics. The unmet need is an objective assessment of injury and quality of the donor kidney at the time of transplantation. Issues concerning diseased donor utilization include delayed graft function, dialysis costs, poor long-term function and increased failures. We aim to develop a molecular assay assessing the tissue injury and age-related changes based on messenger RNA (mRNA) and micro RNA (miRNA) markers. Identification of the tissue injury markers, at the time of donation, will be clinically valuable in improving patient management and will offer mechanistic insights into kidney response to injury.
These insights will guide the search for targets for interventions, development of noninvasive biomarkers and serve as the end points for clinical trials that aim to prevent or mitigate the effects of kidney injury.
Progress Report
Final Report
