Research Awards Recipients

Lay Summary

Kidney scarring is a major problem in clinical nephrology and kidney transplantation. Kidney transplant scarring develops primarily as a result of immune injury. This scarring is progressive and irreversible, but difficult to detect until advanced. Unfortunately, there are currently no effective treatments or clinical markers of early scarring. Improved markers of early scarring would lead to detection of the problem when it could still be treatable. Dr. Konvalinka previously discovered urine proteins that were able to identify patients with kidney scarring in a small group of kidney transplant patients. Her goal is now to develop improved ways of monitoring scar formation in the kidney by measuring urine levels of the proteins in larger groups of patients with kidney transplant. This study thus has the potential to improve the lives of patients with kidney transplant and native kidney disease through better monitoring and more precise treatment of kidney scarring.