Key Takeaways
- UH joins the Texas Medical Center in launching an incubator for kidney, urologic and hematologic training to strengthen the workforce and prepare students for impactful careers.
- The collaboration leverages the University’s strengths in biomedical and crystals research.
- Houston has a significant burden of kidney diseases, hypertension, sickle cell disease and other nonmalignant hematologic conditions.
Leveraging the University of Houston’s strengths in biomedical research and education, the Texas Medical Center, with its world-class hospitals, clinical and research programs, is partnering with UH to expand opportunities for training, discovery and innovations in health. The group, led by Baylor College of Medicine, is working to strengthen the pipeline for future kidney, urologic and hematologic research.
Researchers will receive $6.25 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health to launch the Houston Area Incubator for Kidney, Urologic and Hematologic Research Training.
At UH, the program director is Jeffrey Rimer, Abraham E. Dukler Endowed Professor of Chemical Engineering, who is known globally for his seminal breakthroughs using innovative methods to control crystals to help treat malaria and kidney stones.
“We currently have an NIH R01 grant with UT Southwestern Medical School where we are developing next-generation drugs to treat calcium-based kidney stones,” said Rimer. “This new NIH-sponsored training program will enable us to recruit talented students and postdocs to work on these challenging areas of research.”
Houston has a significant burden of kidney diseases, hypertension, sickle cell disease and other nonmalignant hematologic conditions. HAI-KUH’s mission is to improve the health of these patients by building a strong scientific workforce to address their needs. HAI-KUH will leverage the team's biomedical research resources to develop research skills of students and trainees and prepare them for sustained and impactful careers in KUH research professions.
The program will fund six predoctoral students and six postdoctoral associates selected through a competitive application process. Trainees will receive support in scientific research, professional development and networking.
HAI-KUH includes 58 investigators from Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the University of Houston, Houston Methodist Research Institute, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Rice University and Texas A&M University Institute of Biosciences and Technology.
The multidisciplinary team is engaged in a breadth of KUH disease, addressing development, prevention, diagnostics and treatment. HAI-KUH will provide trainees with the opportunity to collaborate across institutions and fields of study.
The projects principal investigators are Dr. Alison Bertuch, professor of pediatrics — oncology and molecular and human genetics at Baylor and Texas Children’s, Peter Doris, professor and director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine Center for Human Genetics at UT Health, and Margaret Goodell, professor and chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor. Core leads are Dr. Chester Koh (Baylor/Texas Children’s), Rachel Miller (UT Health) and Dr. Rayne Rouce (Baylor/Texas Children’s).
Along with Rimer, co-investigators are Dr. Wolfgang Winkelmeyer (Baylor), Oleh Pochynyuk (UTHealth), Dr. Rose Khavari (Houston Methodist) and Pamela Wenzel (UT Health).
This work is funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (U2CDK143942 and TL1DK147564).