Awardees

Award: KRESCENT New Investigator Award
Institution: McMaster University
Year: 2014-2017

Dr. Jeffrey G. Dickhout is a new investigator at the St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton Centre for Kidney Research and an Assistant Professor in McMaster University’s Division of Nephrology. He completed his Ph.D. at McMaster University and received post-doctoral training in renal physiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. During his doctoral and post-doctoral training Dr. Dickhout developed novel techniques to quantify vascular structure and relate it to functional changes in blood vessels during the development of hypertension.

When disease disturbs kidney function transporter proteins responsible for retaining important elements are lost in the urine, prompting the Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) of kidney cells to increase production of these proteins. ER stress caused by excessive protein production contributes to the progression of chronic kidney disease over time by transforming normal kidney tissue into scar tissue. The objective of Dr. Dickhout’s research is to determine how to inhibit the excessive production of transporter proteins in kidney cells as a means to prevent the progression of kidney disease.