nephrology

Research activities of the Division of Nephrology continue in several areas. Ongoing research in the area of renal bone disease has focused on the vitamin D system and clinical trials with vitamin D analogs are underway. The faculty of the Division has been instrumental in demonstrating a high prevalence of nutritional vitamin D deficiency in patients with kidney disease, and work continues in early clinical trials to find adequate means of correcting this deficiency.

Clinical research also continues in the area of vascular access to avoid complications, and the Division participates in national studies to improve outcomes of vascular access. Additional clinical studies complement this area under the auspices of the Missouri Foundation for Health, where we have shown that the addition of a dedicated vascular access coordinator has achieved significant improvements in the management and prophylaxis of vascular access problems. Clinical studies in dialysis patients also focus on nutrition and the consequences of malnutrition in this patient population.

Basic research activities have also grown, particularly among the faculty based at the VA hospital, where studies are in progress on the area of kidney development, acute kidney injury, and the pathophysiology of vascular calcification. As the population ages, so does the population with kidney disease, and studies are in progress to evaluate pertinent issues with dialysis in the elderly.

In the area of vascular access, it should be noted that the Division of Nephrology has facilitated the training of interventional nephrologists from other universities who have returned to start interventional nephrology programs at their parent institutions.

Working closely with the Center for Outcomes Research, the Division of Nephrology faculty and fellows have contributed to significant outcomes research projects in the area of renal transplantation. Click here for recent publications

The new Edward A. Doisy Research Center consists of a 10-story tower (nine-acre site) at the north end with the two lowest floors extending toward the south and terminating in a covered walkway extending to the School of Medicine, where additional research facilities and training space are located.

The first floor is the street entrance level. The main building lobby, building security desk and the Clinical Core Lab facility are located on the first level.

The second through eighth floors are typical research floors with flexible, modular laboratories located along the perimeter on south and east sides to maximize views and natural lighting. The laboratory spaces are designed to facilitate collaboration in a flexible and durable environment. Offices are located on the north side along the perimeter to maximize views and natural lighting. The offices are grouped to allow for easy interaction among researchers. The building envelope tapers to a point on the west side, creating a connecting stair and collaboration spaces such as conference rooms, graduate student spaces and a lunch room. The core space between labs on the south and east and offices on the north is used for specialized and shared lab and support functions such as equipment rooms, dark rooms, cold rooms, autoclave/glasswash rooms and tissue culture rooms on each floor, as well as a BSL-3 lab suite on the eighth floor.

The ninth floor is primarily a mechanical equipment penthouse, with a large conference room also located at the west end of this level.