Research

• Urgent-Start Peritoneal Dialysis
• Non-traditional applications of peritoneal dialysis
• Quality improvement in delivery of dialysis services
• Non-dialysis management of advanced chronic kidney disease
• Efficiency and cost-effectiveness in the delivery of healthcare services
• Newer blood purification therapies

To learn more about Dr. Ghaffari and for a list of publications, please click here.

• Pathogenesis of hypertensive and diabetic kidney disease
• Mouse models of human disease
• Molecular mechanisms of renal diseases
• Renal physiology

To learn more about Dr. Gurley and for a list of publications, please click here.

• Regulation of the CFTR chloride channel by AMPK
• Regulation of the epithelial Na+ channel (ENaC) by AMPK
• Regulation of AMPK function by CFTR in polarized airway epithelial cells
• Regulation of other ion transport proteins by AMPK
• Role of AMPK in acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD)
• Regulation of Nedd4-2 by kinases
• Modulation of cellular metabolism as a novel therapeutic strategy for autosomal dominant
  polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD)

To learn more about Dr. Hallows and for a list of publications, please click here.

• Development of novel kidney progenitor cell culture and kidney organoid platforms
• Modeling polycystic kidney disease using kidney organoids for novel therapeutics discovery
• Generation of a transplantable synthetic kidney from stem cells (long-term goal)

To learn more about Dr. Li and for a list of publications, please click here.

• Dialysis Delivery
• Multidisciplinary Care in Kidney Disease
• Value-Based Purchasing
• Medicare Payment Policy
• Decision Analysis

To learn more about Dr. Lin and for a list of publications, please click here.

• Kidney and pancreas transplant
• Outcomes of Live donors
• Antibody mediated rejection
• Biomarkers in kidney transplant
• Recurrent glomerulonephritis in post kidney transplant recipients
• Malignancies in post-transplant recipients
• Onco-nephrology

To learn more about Dr. Maw and for a list of publications, please click here.

• Chronic Kidney Disease
• Glomerulonephritis

To learn more about Dr. Motaref, please click here.

• Acute kidney injury in critically ill patients
• Renal dysfunction in patients with liver disease
• Resistant Hypertension

To learn more about Dr. Nadim and for a list of publications, please click here.

• Pericytes
• Angiotensin Signaling
• Hypertension
• Single-Nucleus Transcriptomics
• Chemogenetics

To learn more about Dr. Nelson and for a list of publications, please click here.

• Regulation of kidney homeostasis after uninephrectory
• Addressing the consequences of kidney donation at the Keck Hospital of USC
• Regulation of the V-ATPase in kidney
• Regulation of kidney regeneration by AMPK
• Polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD)
• Physiology of kidney organoids

To learn more about Dr. Pastor-Soler and for a list of publications, please click here.

• Use of non-invasive biomarkers for the detection of clinical and subclinical rejection in kidney transplantation
• Immunosuppression in Kidney Transplantation

Dr. Shah’s profile page is currently under construction.

• Characterization of Glomerular Disorders in Mexican Population in Western United States
• Polycystic Kidney Disease

To learn more about Dr. Shan and for a list of publications, please click here.

• Short term post-transplant outcomes of marginal DDKT recipient to identify risk factors that predict one-year DDKT outcomes, including patient and graft survival and function.
• Kidney transplantation using lymphocyte depleting induction and standard immunosuppression during COVID19-
  a single center experience.
• Increase outpatient kidney transplant referrals.
• BKV-associated diseases in transplant recipients – understanding viral subtypes and subgroups and their
  causative roles in the development of clinical syndromes and nephropathy.
• Post-transplantation anemia in kidney transplant recipients
• Metabolic bone disease post-transplant
• Electrolyte disturbances post kidney transplant
• Research focuses on kidney transplantation, specifically preventing and treating post-transplant viral infections,
  increasing access to transplantation, and evaluating immunosuppression protocols to maximize patient outcomes
  and minimize toxicity.

To learn more about Dr. Sharma and for a list of publications, please click here.

• Heart, brain and carbohydrate metabolism in uremia.
• Role of cytosolic calcium in signal transduction in CRF.
• Mineral bone metabolism in kidney diseases
• Cellular effects of phosphate depletion.
• Regulation of PTH/PTHrP receptor.
• Clinical aspects of kidney transplantation.
• Pancreatic islets transplantation for treatment of diabetic nephropathy.
• Hypertension studies in African American.
• History of Nephrology

To learn more about Dr. Smogorzewski and for a list of publications, please click here.

• Point of care ultrasound in nephrology
• Acute Kidney Injury Biomarkers
• Epidemiology of end-stage renal disease
• Epidemiology of acute kidney injury

To learn more about Dr. Tohme and for a list of publications, please click here.

• Simultaneous liver kidney transplantation and kidney after liver transplantation
• Artifical intelligence in predicting rejection after kidney transplant

To learn more about Dr. Voora and for a list of publications, please click here.

• Evaluating Human NPC-Derived Kidney Organoids as a Cellular System for ADPKD Target Validation. Grant award from Maze Therapeutics, Inc. (2024)
• RNA-Based Nanoparticle Therapy for Polycystic Kidney Disease. Grant Award from Nemirovsky Engineering and Medicine Opportunity (NEMO) Prize (2024-2025)
• Bempedoic Acid as a Novel Therapy in Polycystic Kidney Disease. Grant award from Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (2019-2023)
• Cellular Energy Pathways as Novel Targets for the Therapy of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease. Grant Award from U.S. Department of Defense Investigator-Initiated Research. (2015-2018)
• Effects of Metformin on the AMPK Pathway and Metabolomic Biomarkers in ADPKD Kidney Epithelial Cells. Grant Award from National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) (PI) P30 DK090868 Grant Award – Baltimore PKD Core Center Pilot (2015-2016)
• Mechanisms and Relevance of Sodium Transport Regulation by AMPK. Grant Award from NIH/NIDDK R01 DK075048 Grant Award (2012-2017)
• Effects of Combination Therapy with Tolvaptan and the Farnesoid X Receptor Agonist INT-747 on Hepatotoxicity, Metabolic and Injury Biomarkers, and Cystogenesis in ADPKD. Grant award from Otsuka Pharmaceuticals. (2019-2021)
• Metformin as a Novel Therapy for Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease. Clinical trial grant award from the U.S. Department of Defense. (2015-2021)

• Elucidating the Mechanisms of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Dialysis Quality. Grant award from National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) R01 DK137223. (2023-2028)
• Comparing Dialysis Provision and Outcomes Between Medicare Advantage and Fee-for-Service Medicare. Grant Award from NIH/NIDDK R03 DK131239. (2022-2024)
• The Impact of Medicare Advantage on Patients with End-Stage Kidney Disease. Grant award from American Society of Nephrology (KidneyCure) Carl W. Gottschalk Research Scholar. (2021-2023)
• Investigating the Economic and Social Determinants of Home Dialysis Drop-Out. Grant award from NIH/NIDDK K08 DK118213. (2018-2023)
• The Impact of Medicare Advantage on Patients with End-Stage Kidney Disease. Grant award from Keck School of Medicine of USC, Keck Dean’s Pilot Funding Program. (2021-2022)
• RECALC (Risk of ESRD in Chronic kidney disease and the Apolipoprotein L1 Calculator). Grant award from USC – James H. Zumberge Faculty Research and Innovation Fund Diversity and Inclusion. (2019-2020)
• Investigating the Appropriateness of 30-day Rehospitalizations in Dialysis Patients. Grant award from NIH/NIDDK F32 DK107123. (2015-2018)

• Evaluation of Patient Outcomes from the Kidney Allograft Outcomes AlloSure Registry (KOAR). Grant award from CareDx SN-C-00010. (2018)
• A 12-Month, Randomized, Open-Label, Phase IIA Study Evaluating the Safety and Efficacy of Siplizumab in combination with Belatacept and MPA Compared to Standard of Care Immunosuppression in de novo Renal Transplant Recipients (ongoing)
• A Phase 2, Multicenter, Open-Label Extension Study to Evaluate the Long-Term Safety and Efficacy of Tegoprubart in Kidney Transplant Recipients (ongoing)
• An open-label, controlled, randomized Phase 3 trial evaluating 12-month kidney function in highly sensitized (cPRA ≥99.9%) kidney transplant patients with positive crossmatch against a deceased donor, comparing desensitization using imlifidase with standard of care (ongoing)

• BIOMERIEUX: Diamond Study (ongoing)
• PI-Initiated Study: Native Renal Recovery Following Simultaneous Liver-Kidney Transplantation (ongoing)
• Ablative Solutions: Target BP Trial (ongoing)
• NIH/NHLBI: Ultrasound Stimulation of the Baroreflex (2017-2018)
• CVRx: Neo Legacy (Rheos) Pivotal Trial (2013-2015)

• Pravastatin and Alkali Therapy in Patients with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD). Pilot Grant award from Esperion Pharmaceuticals. (2020-2022)
• Pravastatin and Alkali Therapy in Patients with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD). Pilot Grant award from USC-CTSI. (2018)
• Addressing the Consequences of Uninephrectomy (UNX) after Kidney Donation. Dean’s Pilot Grant award from Keck School of Medicine of USC, (2016-2018)
• 2017 Western Epithelial Biology Society Meeting. Grant award from NIDDK R13 DK113785-01. (2017-2018)
• Novel pathways for detection and inhibition of kidney cancer metastasis. Pilot Grant award from Wright Foundation (2015-2017)
• Mechanisms and Relevance of Sodium Transport Regulation by AMPK. Grant award from (NIH)/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) R01 DK075048 (2012-2016)
• Flow-stimulated endocytosis in the proximal tubule. Grant award from NIH/NIDDK R01 DK101484 (2014-2015)
• Epithelial Transport Group Experimental Biology (2). Grant award from NIH/NIDDK (PI) R13 DK098965-01. (2013-2015)
• Characterization and Control of the Renal WNK1 Signaling Pathway. Grant award from NIH/NIDDK R01 DK098145 (2012-2015)
• Mechanisms of Kinase-dependent Regulation of V-ATPase in Kidney. Grant award from NIH (PI) R01 DK084184 (2009-2015)
• Effects of in vitro apheresis on the cellular mechanisms of acute kidney injury in sepsis. Grant award from University of Pittsburgh Dept. of Medicine (2012-2014)

• Statin and Alkali therapy in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. Grant Award from USC-CTSI. (2018-2020)
• Mentor, Medial Student’s Required Scholarly Project (RSP) on Characterization of glomerular disorders in a Mexican-predominant population in Western United States. (IRB approved) (2017-2019)

• A Phase III, Randomized, open-label active comparator-controlled multicenter study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Obinutuzumab in patients with Primary Membranous Nephropathy. Grant Award from F. Hoffmann-La Roche.
• A non-interventional study providing insights into the use of finerenone in a routine clinical setting. Grant Award from Bayer.
• The PROspera Kidney Transplant ACTIVE Rejection Assessment registry (ProActive) study. Grant Award from Natera.

• An observational, descriptive, randomized study of simplified immunosuppression protocol utilizing low dose envarsus XR. Grant Award from Veloxis. (2019-2024)