Grant to promote PKD treatment research

The PKD Charity has just awarded a £45,000 grant to the UCL Division of Medicine at the Royal Free Hospital London to part-fund a 3-year PhD Studentship.

We urgently need new ways to treat polycystic kidney disease. At present, there is only one disease-modifying drug for ADPKD and none for ARPKD. The only other treatments are standard symptomatic care and/or surgical interventions such as nephrectomy (kidney removal) and kidney/liver transplantation.

The PhD student funded by this grant will undertake a research project on ‘Drug Therapy in 3-dimensional Human Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) Organoids’. These PKD organoids are made from human stem cells in a lab dish and have the same genetic faults that cause PKD in people. They can be used to test potential therapeutic drugs.

The ultimate aim of the research is to inform future clinical trial developments in paediatric and adult ADPKD and ARPKD patients.