Sorin Fedeles, PhD, MBA, Blavatnik Fellow and former research faculty in the Section of Nephrology won the 2019 Young Investigator Award from the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation (PKDF) for his project studying autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) entitled, “Controlling the viability of PKD mutant cells via inactivation of XBP1 as a novel strategy to treat ADPKD.”
“I feel that kidney research has not received the attention and support it deserves and innovative approaches to studying ADPKD and developing better therapeutics are desperately needed in order to fill the gap between academic research and clinical drug development,” said Fedeles. “This funding will provide key support for my project which, if successful, can lead to the development of a novel class of ADPKD therapeutics.”
ADPKD causes cysts to form in the kidneys. Over 600,000 Americans are afflicted with this condition, which is caused by dominant mutations in two genes, PKD1 or PKD2. With this award, Fedeles hopes to uncover novel pathways, characterize their involvement in ADPKD progression, and use that knowledge to develop small molecules as a starting point for future ADPKD drugs.
The Young Investigator Award is a newly created award from the PKDF, an organization dedicated to finding treatments and a cure for PKD, intended to support the transition of a junior scientist to an independent investigator.