We are delighted to announce the results of our first hybrid research grants round of 2022. We invited predominantly fellowship and studentship applications to give as many new researchers as possible the opportunity to start or take the next step in their kidney research career. We also welcomed applications for research project and start-up awards to support researchers who required support to take their research idea forward.

In this round we secured additional funding in the form of an extremely generous gift of £500,000 from the Thompson Family Charitable Trust, a partnership with Kidney Wales to support two PhD Studentships, and a partnership with Kidney Research Yorkshire to support two research projects.

The themes were in line with the charity’s research strategy, and the allocation of funding continued our improved governance, through a two-stage application process, followed by scientific and lay peer review of full applications.

We received 59 expressions of interest and following strategic panel assessment 53 were invited for full applications. Of those, thirteen research projects were discussed, and three Start-up projects were scored at the first panel meeting on 27 September. At the second panel meeting on 13 October, ten interviews were held, and thirteen PhD Studentships were scored.

Following discussion, the recommendation was to make 14 awards:

• 1 Allied Health Professional Fellowship
• 1 Intermediate fellowship
• 2 Senior fellowships
• 1 Training fellowship
• 5 PhD studentships
• 4 Research project grants
• 1 Start-up grant

This recommendation was subsequently endorsed by our board of trustees. These awards were made in November 2022.

• Total awarded: £2.504M
• Overall success rate: 26%

Details of the awards made:

Fellowships:

Dr Stuart Stewart, University of Manchester
£250k over 36 months
Title: Quantifying the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Kidney Failure Risk Equation on CKD Care and Outcomes

Dr Killian Donovan, University of Oxford
£252k over 36 months
Title: Genetic influences on the progression of chronic kidney disease

Dr Katie Mylonas, University of Edinburgh
£316k over 36 months
Title: Targeting senescent cells in kidney disease, heart disease and diabetes

Dr Abigail Lay, University of Manchester
£253k over 36 months
Title: Defining the causal, mechanistic, role of altered DNA methylation in diabetic kidney disease

Dr Barbara Tanos, Brunel University
£336k over 36 months
Title: Investigating the role of cilia in polycystic kidney disease

PhD Studentships

Dr Stephen McAdoo, Imperial College London
£87k over 36 months
Title: Peptide immunotherapy for immune-mediated kidney disease

Professor Kourosh Saeb-Parsy, University of Cambridge
£94k over 42 months
Title: Human renal tubular organoids for polycystic kidney disease modelling and drug screening

Dr Claudio Capelli, University College London
£81k over 36 months
Title: Innovating central venous lines to improve haemodialysis in children: a multidisciplinary, data-driven approach to understand current problems, design and test novel solutions

Dr Soma Meran, Cardiff University
£75k over 36 months
Title: Investigating novel mechanisms that drive cardiovascular disease in kidney patients: the relationship between systemic inflammation, alterations in Hyaluronan matrix and vascular calcification in arteries.

Professor Ian Humphreys, Cardiff University
£75k over 36 months
Title: Investigating nutritional amino acid regulation of antiviral immunity in kidney transplant patients

Research projects

Dr Donald Ward, University of Manchester
£245k over 36 months
Title: Calcium-sensing receptor as the phosphate sensor in secondary hyperparathyroidism

Professor Andrew MacDonald, University of Leeds
£233k over 36 months
Title: Why is CFTR required for the multiplication of BK polyomavirus in kidney cells?

Professor Colin A Johnson, University of Leeds
£246k over 36 months
Title: Developing splice-switching oligonucleotides as therapeutics for CEP290-related renal ciliopathies in organoid models

Professor Steven Sacks, Kings College London
£190k over 24 months
Title: A novel approach to protecting transplanted kidneys

Start-ups

Dr Jessica Kepple, University of Oxford
£39k over 24 months
Title: Investigating the role of TMEM260 in renal development and disease

We are delighted to announce that thanks to the enormous generosity of Laurence Isaacson’s legacy gift we have been able to fund some additional research. Laurence was an ambassador for our Making Every Kidney Count Campaign and was tireless in his support for the charity. He was specifically interested in improving the outcomes for people who need a kidney transplant. 

The Laurence Isaacson MSc/PhD Awards was an open call to the research community for three studentship or fellowship grants of up to £90,000 in translational kidney transplant research. 

The allocation of funding continued our improved governance with a scientific and lay peer review of the applications. We received 4 applications in total, all of which were discussed at the panel meeting on 28 June.  

Following discussion, there was a recommendation to make three awards all of which were subsequently endorsed by our Board of Trustees. These awards were made in August 2022.  

• Total awarded: £ 232,488 
• Overall success rate: 75%  

Details of the awards made:

PhD Studentship awards:

Mr John Asher, University of Glasgow   
£71,088 over 36 months
Title: Viability Assessment and Normothermic Machine Perfusion - Development of clinical and laboratory techniques to improve assessment of kidneys on ex-vivo normothermic perfusion to enable evaluation of marginal kidneys for transplantation 

Professor Patricia Murray, University of Liverpool    
£71,400 over 36 months
Title: Improving the viability of transplanted kidneys using a regenerative cell therapy 

Professor Stephen Marks, Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust     
£90,000 over 42 months
Title: Identification of new transplant kidney injury indicators to aid personalised use of immunity suppressing medicines in children 

We are delighted to announce that thanks to the enormous generosity of the Solomon family we have been able to fund some additional research.

The Lady Judith Solomon Award was an open call to the research community for awards of up to £150,000 for research projects to drive improvements in dialysis in one of the following areas:

• Making dialysis kinder and more tolerable
• Improving outcomes for dialysis patients
• Reducing the fear and anxiety associated with dialysis.

The allocation of funding continued our improved governance with a scientific and lay peer review of the applications. We received 8 applications in total, all of which were discussed at the panel meeting on 28 June.

• Total awarded: £254,845
• Overall success rate: 25%

Details of the awards made:

Research project awards:

Dr Ben Reynolds, Royal Hospital for Children, Glasgow
£149,637 over 24 months
Title: Further development of a head-mounted unit Virtual Reality application to incorporate training for patients, families, and staff in home haemodialysis

Dr Yongmann Chung, University of Warwick
£105,208 over 36 months
Title: Novel fistula health monitoring for dialysis patients

We are delighted to announce that thanks to the enormous generosity of the Sutherland Family we have been able to fund an additional PhD Studentship.  

The Sutherland Family PhD Award was a call for PhD studentship applications up to £90,000, in paediatric kidney disease for researchers affiliated with Great Ormond Street Hospital.  

The allocation of funding continued our improved governance with a scientific and lay peer review of the applications. We received 3 applications in total, all of which were discussed at the panel meeting on 28 June.  

Following discussion, the recommendation was to grant one award, which was subsequently endorsed by our board of trustees and the award was made in August 2022.  

• Total awarded: £90,000 
• Overall success rate: 33%  

Details of the awards made:

PhD Studentship awards:

Professor David Long, University College London (UCL)   
£90,000 over 42 months
Title: Supporting vital blood vessel research for children with kidney disease 

In partnership with the PKD Charity we delighted to hold our first dedicated Polycystic Kidney Disease grants round this year, and to now announce the results of our joint competition.

The allocation of this funding followed our normal two-stage governance process and included representatives from the PKD Charity.

We received 14 expressions of interest (9 project, 3 innovation and 2 PhD studentships) and following strategic panel assessment 10 invitations were made for full applications (8 project, 1 innovation and 1 PhD Studentship) and of those, 5 applications (4 project and 1 PhD Studentship), were discussed at the panel meeting on Thursday 10th February 2022.

The theme for this round sought applications that would address one of the top priorities form the James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership for Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) and applications that addressed similar priorities in Auto Recessive PKD (ARPKD).

Following discussion, the recommendation was to make 3 awards (2 project and 1 PhD Studentship). This recommendation was subsequently endorsed by both our Board of Trustees and the Trustees of the PKD Charity. These awards were made in March 2022.

• Total awarded: £537,376
• Overall success rate: 30%

Details of the awards made:

Research project awards:

Professor Colin Anfimov Johnson, University of Leeds 
£223,237.49 over 36 months
Title: Pre-clinical testing of ROCK2 inhibition as a new therapeutic treatment for cystic kidney diseases
Lay title: Pre-clinical testing of ROCK2 inhibition as a new therapeutic treatment for cystic kidney diseases

Professor Albert Ong, University of Sheffield   
£230,164.00 over 36 months
Title: Cytoskeletal dysregulation as a key driver of cyst initiation in ADPKD: identifying novel therapeutic targets and pathways
Lay title: Do changes in the actin skeleton lead to cyst formation in ADPKD?

PhD Studentship award

Dr Joe Cockburn, University of Leeds 
£83,974.05 over 42 months
Title: Developing small molecule treatments and improved genetic counselling for ARPKD by understanding the molecular pathogenesis of PKHD1 mutations
Lay title: Developing treatments and improved genetic counselling for ARPKD

We are delighted to announce the results of the 2021/2022 Paediatric grants round competition. 

The allocation of this funding continued our improved governance through a two-stage process, followed by scientific and lay peer review of full applications. 

We were delighted that this round was made possible in this year by the generous support of The Stoneygate Trust and therefore any risk of being delayed whilst charity income recovered from the impact of the pandemic was averted.  

We received 15 expressions of interest (10 project and 5 innovation) and following strategic panel assessment all were invited to full application. Nine applications (5 project and 4 innovation) were discussed at the panel meeting on Thursday 10 March 2022. 

Following discussion, the recommendation was to make 5 awards (4 project and 1 innovation). This recommendation was subsequently endorsed by our Board of Trustees. These awards were made in March 2022.  

• Total awarded: £631,183 
• Overall success rate: 33.33% 

Details of the awards made:

Research project awards:

Professor David Long, UCL Institute of Child Health  
£233,141.96 over 24 months
Title: Profiling and reversing the cellular and molecular changes to the childhood urinary tract caused by posterior urethral valves
Lay title: Studying and reversing bladder blockage in children to protect their kidneys

Professor Moin Saleem, University of Bristol 
£109,894.19 over 24 months
Title: Applying Machine Learning To Nephrotic Syndrome Datasets From UK And Internationally, For Discovery Of Mechanistic Drivers Of Disease
Lay title: The use of computer aided learning programs on big datasets derived from blood and DNA of patients with Nephrotic Syndrome, to discover causes and predict response to treatments

Dr Pelagia Koufaki, Queen Margaret University
£121,602.89 over 24 months
Title: Co-design, development and evaluation of the KIDNEY BEAM-KIDS platform for paediatric kidney transplant recipients: a feasibility study
Lay title: The development and testing of the KIDNEY BEAM-KIDS digital platform for children after kidney transplantation

Professor Rukshana Shroff, Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Trust   
£129,592.81 over 24 months
Title: Development of effective resources for dietary phosphate education for children and young people with chronic kidney disease: hearing the patient voice
Lay title: Understanding the knowledge, challenges, and priorities of children with chronic kidney disease and their families in relation to dietary phosphate control in order to create improved educational material

Innovation awards

Dr Carl May, University of Bristol   
£36,950.99 over 6 months
Title: Investigating PZ-128 as a novel treatment for nephrotic syndrome and diabetic nephropathy
Lay title: Investigating a new treatment for nephrotic syndrome and diabetic nephropathy using a novel drug already in clinical trials for the treatment of coronary artery disease.

We are delighted to announce the results of our fifth grants round in partnership with the Stoneygate Trust.

The allocation of this funding continued our improved governance through a two-stage process, followed by scientific and lay peer review of full applications.

We received 22 expressions of interest (17 project and 5 innovation) and following strategic panel assessment 12 invitations were made for full applications (7 project and 5 innovation) and of those 8 applications (5 project and 3 innovation) were discussed at the panel meeting on Friday 25th March 2022.

The theme for this round was focused on transforming treatments.

Following discussion, the recommendation was to make 3 awards (1 project and 2 innovation). This recommendation was subsequently endorsed by our Board of Trustees. These awards were made in March 2022.

• Total awarded: £333,100
• Overall success rate: 25%

Details of the awards made:

Research project awards: 

Professor Alan Salama, University College London (UCL)  
£233,361.31 over 36 months
Title:  Investigating the impact of kidney failure on B cell responses and manipulating them to improve vaccination efficacy and attenuate infections
Lay title:  Understanding the impact of kidney failure on protective antibody responses after vaccination

Innovation awards 

Dr Rhys Evans, University College London (UCL) 
£49,984.69 over 24 months
Title: Investigating the impact of sodium on alloimmune responses in kidney transplant recipients
Lay title: Investigating how salt affects the immune system of kidney transplant recipients

Dr Bettina Wilm, University of Liverpool   
£49,753.67 over 24 months
Title: Utilising point-of-care technology for the identification of haemolysis-induced Acute Kidney Injury following open surgery on the thoracoabdominal aorta.
Lay title: How well can a medical device measure levels of red blood cell damage after major blood vessel surgery, and how do these levels relate to kidney injury?