Research
Nephrology
About the Group
The Nephrology Research Group within the University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine, is an accomplished assembly of academic nephrologists and researchers with a mission to improve the lives and outcomes of people living with kidney disease.
The scope of research in the Nephrology Research Group reflects the broad nature of the field of nephrology itself and includes research in basic science, clinical interventional, epidemiological health service, and patient-oriented research.
Areas of Focus
The group consists of clinician scientists and researchers with focused interests in:
- Chronic kidney disease
- Acute kidney injury (AKI)
- Glomerulonephritis
- Autoimmune diseases
- End-stage kidney disease
- Kidney replacement therapies
- Transplant, cardiorenal physiology
- Sex and gender
- Data science and statistical learning
- Phase ii - iv interventional trials in autoimmune diseases
- Quality assurance, improvement and the economic impact of kidney disease on our health system
The Nephrology Research Group supports and conducts a variety of research across the Country and Internationally within Alberta Kidney Care South, working closely with the Kidney Health Section of the Medicine Strategic Clinical Network, the Kidney Foundation of Canada – Southern Alberta Branch, the Kidney Health and Wellness Institute, and the Alberta Kidney Disease Network (AKDN).
Translation to Health Care & Improving Patient Care
Our extensive and diverse patient population within Alberta Kidney Care South, along with the Nephrology Research Group’s active and robust research program, places us in a unique position in the translation of research findings to accelerate advances in the care and management of patients with kidney disease.
The research team uses collaborative approaches, support structures and new technology to find efficient and fair ways to deliver health care to Canadians living with kidney and chronic diseases. Areas of research include, but are not limited to, multidisciplinary initiatives to prevent acute kidney injury and to advance care for kidney and cardiovascular disease. These areas focus on clinical implementation of decision support strategies, use of risk prediction models and alerting systems in clinical electronic systems and the evaluation of these interventions on patient care and outcomes.
The Nephrology Research Group home dialysis research, quality improvement initiatives, and the evaluation of routinely measured patient reported outcome measures in the renal program have advanced the uptake of home therapies and supported program wide policy and procedure changes based on evidence garnered through these areas of research.
Health services research and clinical epidemiology is undertaken by several faculty members aimed at improving patient level outcomes. Research projects that fall under this hub of research include:
- The self-management of chronic kidney disease (a project that aims to support patients in living their best lives)
- The applied health economics and outcomes research in Nephrology provides data to support evidence based changes to improve healthcare delivery and evaluation of the economic impact
- The Innovative Clinical Trials (iCT) Program will test health innovations and interventions, and the implementation of participatory patient oriented research to develop novel interventions aimed at improving the care and outcomes of socially disadvantaged populations with diabetes
The Nephrology Research Group are committed to expanding and improving kidney care through ongoing research, sharing our knowledge, identifying clinical evidence to support and implement change, and keeping the patient and family engaged in research and at the forefront of our efforts.
Our Projects and Highlights
- The Biobank for the Molecular Classification of Kidney Disease (BMCKD). Housed in the Muruve Lab, is a fully equipped wet laboratory, with an information technology infrastructure and a formal operational, ethical and legal framework for banking human biospecimens and storing clinical data. The BMCKD represents the first comprehensive kidney disease biobank in Canada. The TARGET KD project aims to collect biospecimens and clinical data on patients undergoing a kidney biopsy in Southern Alberta, as well as from healthy volunteers, in order to build a population based cohort of de-identified biospecimens and clinical data for research.
- The Justin Chun Lab focuses on the use of patient biospecimens, patient derived kidney organoids and primary kidney cells to study glomerular kidney diseases. A productive program of research in dialysis and vascular access encompasses research aimed to optimize dialysis therapy and vascular access. This includes a renal exercise study looking at intradialytic exercise to reduce symptom burden and improve cardiac function along with the role of exercise to optimize health outcomes in people living with kidney disease in the pre and post kidney transplant stage.
- The Pediatric Nephrology Research team has several areas of focus including projects to improve transition to adult care within Alberta, and the development of a national initiative to improve care and outcomes for patients with nephrotic syndrome along with a commitment to leadership roles in local and national committees to enhance child health and kidney care.
- The Roy and Vi Baay Chair in Kidney Research, established in 2011 in recognition of a generous founding gift from Roy and Vi Baay. This Chair promotes clinical excellence by maintaining a world-class kidney disease research program for southern Alberta by providing funds to help recruit and retain internationally renowned researchers to the University of Calgary.