2008 JASN IMPACT FACTOR 7.505	HOME   AUTHOR INFO   EDITORIAL BOARD   SUBSCRIBE   FEEDBACK   ALERTS   HELP
advanced	CURRENT ISSUE	ARCHIVES	JASN Express	ONLINE SUBMISSION

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content

ASN News

	RENAL WEEK 2007

Top RENAL WEEK 2007 GRANT RECIPIENTS MEDICAL RESEARCH

This year's meeting will include talks by four State-of-the-Art speakers. The talks will emphasize four areas in which rapid technological advancement will provide significant potential for translation of new knowledge and innovation to the bedside over the next decade. Please read below for more on these outstanding speakers. They are identified below in the order in which they will present their lecture during Renal Week.

David Altshuler, MD, PhD
Dr. Altshuler is an Associate Professor of Genetics and of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Director of the Program in Medical and Population Genetics at the Broad Institute of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A renowned clinical endocrinologist and human geneticist, he and his laboratory have analyzed the first large-scale study of common sequence variation in the coding regions of human genomes and have developed methods to discover and characterize genome-wide patterns of human genetic variation. His research has contributed to identifying the role of common genetic variants in type 2 diabetes, prostate cancer, age-related macular degeneration, and systemic lupus erythematosis. His lecture, "Genome Sequence Variation and the Inherited Basis of Type 2 Diabetes," will take place on Friday, November 2, 2007.

Abraham Verghese, MD
Dr. Verghese is a distinguished author and the Director of the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. His extensive publications in medical literature include the novel "My Own Country," a story about AIDS in rural Tennessee, which was made into a movie. Dr. Verghese's second book, "The Tennis Partner," was a New York Times notable book and a national bestseller. He will soon release his third book, "Cutting for Stone." His lecture, "Homo Technologies and Touching Where It Hurts: Lessons from Life and Literature," will take place on Saturday, November 3, 2007.

Roger Kornberg, MD
Dr. Kornberg, a Professor of Structural Biology at Stanford University School of Medicine, received the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research on the mechanism and regulation of eukaryotic gene transcription. A few of his remarkable findings include the establishment of a yeast RNA polymerase II transcription system and the isolation of all of the proteins involved, the development of two-dimensional protein crystallization and its application to transcription proteins, and the atomic structure determination of an RNA polymerase II transcribing complex. Dr. Kornberg is a currently working toward the structure of the entire transcription apparatus at atomic resolution, and the mechanism of transcription control in living cells. His lecture, "Beyond Genes: The Molecular Basis of Eukaryotic Transcription," will take place on Sunday, November 4, 2007.

Neil Powe MD, MPH, MBA
Dr. Powe is a Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, a Professor of Epidemiology and Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research. As a principal investigator for Choices for Healthy Outcomes in Caring for ESRD (CHOICE) and for the outcomes in chronic kidney disease (CKD), his renowned research focuses on a variety of topics including early referral of CKD patients, patient-physician contact in dialysis care, racial differences in cardiovascular procedure use among CKD patients, and access to transplantation and organ donation. His lecture, "Racial Disparities in the Optimal Delivery of Chronic Kidney Disease Care," will take place on Monday, November 5, 2007.

	GRANT RECIPIENTS

Top RENAL WEEK 2007 GRANT RECIPIENTS MEDICAL RESEARCH

 
Each year, the ASN offers several grants to worthy researchers to assist them in furthering their research goals. Over the next few months, we will highlight some of our most recent deserving recipients within this column. We begin by honoring two distinguished recipients of the New Directions Grant for Established Investigators.

Christie Thomas, MBBS, FASN, FACP, FRCP
Dr. Thomas directs the Kidney Transplant Program at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and is the director of the Iowa Medical Student Research Program at the University of Iowa. His grant will address the topic of "Regulation of sFlt1 Processing." The major goal of the research is to examine the regulation and processing of sFlt1 in vascular endothelial cells and in cytotrophoblasts. The research in Dr. Thomas’ lab is focused on the regulation of the amiloride-sensitive epithelial sodium channel. Dr. Thomas’ clinical interests are in renal transplantation and genetic disorders of the kidney.

Geza Fejes-Toth, MD
Dr. Fejes-Toth is a Professor of Physiology at Dartmouth College. His grant will discuss the "Role of Cardiovascular Mineralocorticoid Receptors in Health and Disease." This proposal seeks to determine the role of nonepithelial mineralocorticoid receptors in the physiological response to volume depletion and to pathophysiology associated with diabetes and atherosclerosis. For the past 20 years, the major focus of Dr. Fejes-Toth's laboratory has been the molecular biology and hormonal regulation of ion transporters in the collecting duct with special emphasis on the actions of aldosterone. Recently, he became interested in the nonepithelial actions of aldosterone and in a more holistic approach to understand the relationship between its renal and extrarenal effects.

The ASN congratulates both of these deserving recipients!

	MEDICAL RESEARCH

Top RENAL WEEK 2007 GRANT RECIPIENTS MEDICAL RESEARCH

 
Senate Labor-HHS Panel Includes Stem Cell Bill, Adds $1 Billion to NIH Proposed Budget
A Senate panel made a second attempt at expanding the number of embryonic cell lines available for federally funded research by attaching such a provision to must-pass appropriations legislation on June 21, 2007, one day after President Bush vetoed legislation with the same intent.

The provision was part of a $152 billion package from the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies, which includes a $1 billion increase to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget. Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) attached the embryonic stem cell language to the bill before presenting the appropriations to the full committee.

The Labor-HHS appropriations would allow federal funding for embryonic stem cell research if the embryos were derived before June 15, 2007, while adding ethical guidelines on this research. The current policy has a derivation limit of August 9, 2001, when the president set the policy in place.

Some scientists—including NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni—have said scientists need access to more and newer stem cell lines, which are less volatile and some of which were not tainted by being grown in mouse feeder cells.

"This measure will advance progress toward treatments and cures by greatly expanding the number of stem cell lines eligible for federally funded research," Harkin said in a June 21, 2007, statement. Harkin is one of the leaders behind S. 5, the vetoed bill that would have allowed discarded embryos from in vitro fertilization clinics, regardless of when they were created, to be donated for research.

Bush vetoed S. 5 on June 20, the second time he has exercised his veto power on legislation to overturn his policy on embryonic stem cell research (No. 119 HCDR, 6/21/07). Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colorado), who led efforts in the House to pass S. 5, said after the veto that House members also are looking at "alternative vehicles," such as attaching the measure to must-pass legislation as Harkin did. However, she declined to elaborate on the specific vehicles.

Senate Approves $30 Billion NIH Budget
The $1 billion increase approved by Senate appropriators for NIH would bring the agency's budget to nearly $30 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2008. According to a chart from the Appropriations Committee, the $29.9 billion proposed by the Labor-HHS subcommittee represents a 3.5% increase over FY 2007. It is $1 billion more than NIH's FY 2007 funding level and more than $1.2 billion over the president's budget request of $28.6 billion of the Labor-HHS budget authority.

"Senator [Arlen] Specter [R-Pennsylvania] and I both wish we could have done more for NIH," Harkin said, referring to the subcommittee's ranking minority member. Harkin and Specter had pledged to reject the president's proposed NIH's budget in favor of more money for the medical research agency when the Bush administration released its proposed budget earlier this year.

During a June 22, 2007 subcommittee hearing on NIH, Harkin said that the proposed $1 billion increase would allow the average cost of new grants to increase by 3% for the first time since FY 2005. It also would increase the agency's common fund by 10%, continue funding for the National Children's Study, and add funding to help recruit young investigators.

Senate's Proposed Increase Greater Than House's Proposed Increase
The proposed Senate budget is about $250 million greater the House's proposed allocation. The House Labor-HHS subcommittee approved the appropriations on June 7, 2007, which included a $750 million increase for NIH, or a 2.6% increase above the $28.9 billion budget in FY 2007. The House bill would increase the number of new and competing research grants by about 545 over the previous year, lift a two-year freeze on the average cost of new research grants, help train the next generation of researchers, provide $110.9 million for the National Children's Study, and provide $300 million for the global AIDS fund, according to the House Appropriations Committee.

"You cannot disinvest in the country's future without creating the kind of future that no one wants," Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wisconsin) said in a June 7, 2007, statement. "The strength of our country is not just our national security strength. It is what we have here at home."

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content