The Division of Nephrology & Hypertension Announces New Awards for Three Faculty Members
The Division of Nephrology & Hypertension is delighted to announce three new awards for three members of our faculty: Drs. Brandi Wynne, PhD, Assistant Professor; Marcus Pezzolesi, PhD, Associate Professor; & Fei Wang, Postdoctoral Fellow. For more information about each of their awards, please see below:
Dr. Brandi Wynne’s National Kidney Foundation project, “Understanding Sodium-Dependent Renal 
Immune Cell Activation and Migration-Microfluidic Modeling and Kidney Chips” was selected for a 1.5 year $15,000 award.
Project Description
Given the heterogeneity of the kidney, classical in vitro systems do not properly mimic the microenvironment of the nephron. In this project, we will develop a microfluidic model, or a 3-D kidney chip, in collaboration with Dr. Jungkyu (Jay) Kim. This project will focus on the development of this novel technology for the study of tubular epithelial cell physiology, and immune cell migration, morphology and activation. Our laboratory is particularly interested in the response and interaction of immune cells with renal tubular epithelial cells when confronted with increased dietary sodium. We believe that targeting renal cytokines and immune cell activation may be crucial in the development of therapies to prevent salt-sensitive hypertension.
Dr. Marcus Pezzolesi’s National Kidney Foundation project, “Investigating the Genetic Basis of Dysceramidemia in Rapid Renal Decline” was selected for a 1.5 year $15,000 award.
Project Description
As part of a recent pilot study, the Pezzolesi lab identified 2 families with diabetes and rapid progression of renal decline that harbor rare, pathogenic mutations in genes involved in the sphingolipid biosynthesis pathway. Carriers of these mutations have diabetes, rapidly progressed to end-stage renal disease, and have elevated serum ceramide levels. Importantly, compelling data implicate dyslipidemia, in particular the accumulation of ceramides, in the pathogenesis of diabetes-related complications, including diabetic kidney disease. These data are the first to implicate the sphingolipid biosynthesis pathway and genetic variation that alter this pathway as contributors to rapid progression of renal decline in individuals with diabetes. Building on this evidence, the goal of this project is to expand this research and investigate the role of familial dysceramidemia in rapid progression of renal decline using a multi-omics approach that includes lipidomic and genomic analysis of large, multi-generational pedigrees enriched for rapid progression of renal decline.
Dr. Fei Wang’s K99 project, “Role of CTRP1 in Renal Sodium Handling in Obesity-Related Hypertension” was selected for a 2 year $180,000 award.
Project Description
Obesity cause 65-75% of primary hypertension, yet the underlying mechanism is still incompletely understood. This project aims to determine the role of the newly characterized adipokine, C1q/TNF-related protein 1 (CTRP1), in developing obesity-related hypertension and its underlying mechanisms. The main hypothesis of this study is that the adipose tissue-derived CTRP1 stimulates renal sodium reabsorption during obesity, thus hypertension.