Pediatric Nephrology Research
Research activities of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology are aimed at understanding the pathogenesis and treatment of kidney disease in children. In addition to leading active research programs, our pediatric nephrology faculty includes several National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant winners and NIH Training Grant participants.
Basic Research
Drake Lab
Research in the Keri Drake Lab is focused on using genetically engineered mouse models to understand how disruptions in normal kidney development contribute to Wilms tumor, an embryonal kidney cancer primarily affecting children in the first years of life.
In the normally developing kidney, nephron progenitor cells are exhausted prior to birth; however, in Wilms tumor, these specialized progenitor cells are abnormally maintained and are thought to act as "cancer stem cells" that drive the development of tumors. Despite this long-recognized link to renal development, the underlying mechanisms of how Wilms tumors originate from renal progenitor cells and can "hijack" developmental programs to result in this rare childhood kidney cancer remain poorly understood.
Dr. Drake's work is aimed at better understanding how fundamental processes in developmental biology contribute to disease, including specifically how activating mutations in beta-catenin and loss-of-function mutations in Wt1 can result in both cell-autonomous and non-cell-autonomous mechanisms that drive Wilms tumorigenesis.
Clark Lab
Amanda Clark's lab studies how metabolism within kidney cells affects their function. They study this in both kidney injury and kidney development. In injury models, they study the way the kidney's ability to create and use energy (ATP) changes when the kidney is injured. The hope is that we can find ways to help kidneys maintain normal energy production during injury, so the injury is less severe.
Likewise, in development projects, the lab studies how the developing kidney makes and uses energy to eventually form a fully functional kidney. As the fetal kidney derives all of its energy precursors from the mother's circulation, we are studying how maternal diet and health can affect the developing kidney's energy production and final developmental outcome.
The lab's work has been funded by the Pediatric Scientist Development Program, the American Society of Nephrology, and currently the NIH and the UT Southwestern Department of Pediatrics.
Clinical Research
Acute Care Nephrology
Our acute care nephrology team actively participates in several national, multicenter research collaboratives, including ICONIC (Improving Carpediem Outcomes in Neonates and Infants through Collaboration), WE-ROCK (Worldwide Exploration of Renal Replacement Outcomes Collaborative in Kidney Disease), and AWAKEN (Analysis of the Assessment of Worldwide Acute Kidney Epidemiology in Neonates). These initiatives, along with specialized therapies supporting patients with sepsis and liver failure, are aimed at improving multidisciplinary care for acutely ill patients both locally at our institution as well as nationally through collaborative efforts as described above.
Chronic Dialysis Program Research
Our team is actively involved in clinical research and quality improvement initiatives to improve kidney disease treatment for children. Our center is a member of the Standardized Care to Improve Outcomes in Pediatric End-Stage Renal Disease (SCOPE) Collaborative, which is a multicenter quality improvement initiative to improve care in our dialysis patients.
Pediatric Kidney Transplant Program
Our institution has been involved in multicenter pediatric kidney transplant registries and studies, through organizations such as the Improving Renal Outcomes Collaborative (IROC) and North American Pediatric Renal Trials and Collaborative Studies (NAPRTCS). Our faculty are also actively involved in research on kidney transplant outcomes in pediatric kidney transplant recipients.