New Research Grants - September 2018

Isaac Hall, MD

Nephrology

National Kidney Foundation

Decreased-Donor Biomarker Assessment for Organ Quality

7/01/2018 – 6/30/2019

The need for transplantation far exceeds current organ availability, leading to the push to utilize older/frailer deceased donors and suggesting the need to further optimize donor management goals prior to organ procurement. In collaboration with the University of Utah Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics laboratory, we designed this pilot study to characterize immune system cells in deceased donor blood samples collected by our local organ procurement organization. We will compare the distribution and activation of these cells based on different donor characteristics as they relate to different types and degrees of organ injury before transplantation. Our goal is to use this preliminary data to plan future donor intervention studies in hopes of increasing organ availability for transplant.

Marcus Pezzolesi, MD

Nephrology

National Kidney Foundation

Implementation of Targeted Next-Generation Sequencing for Improved CKD Diagnostics

7/01/2018 – 6/30/2019

The Pezzolesi lab recently developed a high-throughput, custom library preparation protocol that allows for simultaneous, multiplexed pooled targeted capture of up to 96 individual DNA libraries using a repertoire of unique identifying barcodes and indices. Additionally, we also developed a custom kidney disease gene panel (i.e., the Utah Kidney Gene Panel) that facilitates targeted next-generation sequencing of 364 kidney disease-related genes in a single assay.  Used together, our approach significantly increases throughput while reducing the cost of targeted next-generation sequencing of these kidney disease-related genes to less than $100 per sample.  The goal of this project is to perform targeted next-generation sequencing of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients enrolled in the Utah Kidney Study (UKS) using the Utah Kidney Gene Panel.  We anticipate that data generated as part of this project will identify the genetic cause of CKD in these patients and, thereby, demonstrate the effectiveness and utility of targeted next-generation sequencing in facilitating clinical diagnoses in CKD.