UK Renal Imaging Network (UKRIN)

The global burden of kidney disease is significant with 10% of the world’s population having chronic kidney disease (CKD), and in developed countries alone over two million people sustain acute kidney injury (AKI) every year. A recent series in the Lancet provided a global perspective on kidney disease, specifically identifying new methods to diagnose kidney diseases and the development of new drugs as key priorities for the next decade. However, options are limited by shortcomings in current methods to image the kidneys.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has emerged as a promising new approach for improving the management of kidney diseases. MRI provides not only structural information, but functional MRI methods allow assessment of the whole kidney in terms of inflammation, fibrosis, oxygenation, and microstructure.

Functional renal MRI scan

Who we are:
The UK Renal Imaging Network (UKRIN) brings together major UK renal MRI research centres through membership of a national group of MR physicists, radiologists, and clinicians dedicated to developing MRI methods for the study of the kidney. The group is chaired by Professor Sue Francis, Professor at the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre at Nottingham, and Dr Nick Selby, Associate Professor of Nephrology and Honorary Consultant at Nottingham and Royal Derby Hospital.

Membership:
A full list of the UK Renal Imaging Network members is available. If you would like to join UKRIN please email one of the UKRIN secretaries.

Main focus:
The main purpose of the UKRIN is to coordinate ongoing activities in the field of renal imaging research towards the set-up of joint multi-centre clinical studies, to avoid duplication of efforts and promote standardisation by developing shared infrastructures and tools. We will work collaboratively to share expertise, resolve challenges in acquisition and analysis, standardise approaches, and provide technical, biological and clinical validation through multi-centre studies.

We aim to overcome practical barriers to the setup of studies e.g. new MRI technologies are currently confined to bespoke solutions in dedicated research centres.

We will also collaborate with other UKKRC Clinical Study Groups (CSGs), thus benefiting from the experience gained in other multicentre studies.

Our primary aims are:

• To co-ordinate ongoing activities in the field of renal imaging research
• To build a shared framework with standardised methods for renal imaging in clinical research
• To generate research proposals for multicentre clinical studies involving renal imaging
• To provide imaging expertise and methods for clinical studies that arise from other Clinical Study Groups (CSGs) within the UKKRC
• To facilitate collaboration between investigators involved in renal imaging research
• To initially focus on MRI and later expand to include other imaging modalities.

If you have a research idea or proposal we would like to hear from you. By working with the UKRIN, we aim to assist investigators in the acquisition of grant funding. We can provide advice about study design, facilitate potential collaboration and our involvement can be cited in funding applications.

Latest News:

• Our next meeting is on 27th June 2018 in Manchester
  
  
• MRC Partnership - We have recently been awarded a Medical Research Council Partnership grant which will commence on 1st September for 3 years. This aims to enable clinical translation of functional MRI for kidney disease and specifically will address:
  - Sharing of expertise and building capacity in renal MRI
  - Development of harmonized approaches in renal MRI across MR field strength (1.5 and 3 T) and MR vendors (GE, Philips, Siemens)
  - Repeatability data in a healthy subject cohort
  - Development of data sharing and data analysis methods
  - Acceleration of new technological advances and realising the clinical potential of renal MRI
  
  
• We will also be organising the Third International Meeting on Renal MRI in the autumn of 2019 in collaboration with the European Co-operation in Science and Technology (COST) action CA16103 PARENCHIMA. Watch this space!”

Contact us:
Co-chairs: susan.francis@nottingham.ac.uk and nicholas.selby@nottingham.ac.uk. 

Secretaries: Isky Gordon i.gordon@ucl.ac.uk and Fabio Nery fabio.nery.13@ucl.ac.uk.

Links:
Renal COST Action.