Project Title: Investigation of the role of IGFBP-1 in a murine model of acute kidney injury
Joseph Hunter Holthoff M.D. Ph.D. will be joining the College of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nephrology on July 1st. The KL2 Mentored Research Career Development Award will support his efforts to identify novel therapeutic targets for acute kidney injury.
Acute kidney injury is defined as a rise in serum creatinine or a decrease in urine output. It effects 10-20% of hospitalized patients and is associated with increased mortality. Among patients that develop severe kidney injury and require renal replacement therapy, the mortality rate approaches 50%. Despite decades of research and clinical trials, there are still no specific treatments for acute kidney injury. The lack of therapies result from a poor understanding of the mechanisms of acute kidney injury. Recently, specific molecular biomarkers of acute kidney injury have been identified and hold great promise for the discovery of novel therapeutic targets for acute kidney injury. During his KL2 Mentored Research Career Development Award, Dr. Holthoff will investigate the role of a protein,Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 1 (IGFBP-1), which is significantly increased in the urine of patients that develop acute kidney injury following cardiothoracic surgery. The goal of these studies is to reveal new therapeutic targets to treat acute kidney injury which can be translated from his animal model to clinical therapies.
Dr. Holthoff completed the combined M.D./Ph.D. program at UAMS in 2014. He then completed a combined internal medicine and pediatrics residency at UAMS in 2018. He served as internal medicine chief resident from 2018-2019 and will finish his nephrology clinical fellowship in June 2021 at UAMS. He will join the College of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Nephrology on July 1st.
Mentors:
John Arthur M.D. Ph.D., Professor and Chief of Division of Nephrology, Department of Internal Medicine, UAMS
Luis Juncos M.D. Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine in the Division of Nephrology at UAMS and Director of Nephrology at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System
Rick Edmondson Ph.D., Associate Professor in the College of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Shree Sharma M.D., Nephropathologist and Laboratory Director, Arkana Laboratories