KRI Research

This is unpublished

The Need for Research

The KRI is Fighting an Epidemic of Kidney Disease

A public health issue. One in every seven adults in the United States has kidney disease. The estimated prevalence worldwide is 10-13%, or >850 million people.
A public finance issue. Twenty-four percent of the U.S. Medicare budget is spent treating kidney disease; 7 percent is spent on dialysis treatment.
Myriad complications. Chronic kidney disease is linked to premature cardiovascular disease, fractures, infections, and diminished physical and mental functioning.
Under the radar. Despite robust basic research, clinical practice has lagged in developing new treatments for kidney diseases, and in understanding uremic complications and other important questions directly impacting kidney patients.

Interdisciplinary collaboration and team science drive knowledge

Woman at desk — Dr. Nisha Bansal, KRI Investigator & Professor of Medicine

Kidney Disease Touches All Aspects of Health

Diseases that affect the whole body, such as diabetes and hypertension, cause much kidney disease and occur alongside damage to other organs. Once kidney disease develops, the kidneys lose their ability to perform their central role in body regulation, profoundly challenging physical and mental health.

Preventing and treating kidney disease inherently requires researchers with broad expertise to work together. The KRI is where these collaborations happen! It is within this environment that investigators from multiple medical specialties (Nephrology, Endocrinology, Cardiology, and more) can partner with Pathologists, Clinical Chemists, Radiologists, Bioengineers, Nutritionists, and experts in Pharmaceutics and Regenerative Medicine, among many other fields, to investigate new theories and perform collaborative research. body systems

Projects that cross the usual bounds of scientific disciplines facilitate the rapid application of new knowledge and technologies to kidney disease research and promote discoveries. At the KRI, team science drives interdisciplinary research. Researchers with specialized expertise — including Research Coordinators, Project Managers, Laboratory Scientists, and Biostatisticians — work across projects to lend their unique insights to multiple studies. The KRI “co-laboratory” breaks silos and accelerates innovative science.

Meet our investigators

Patients as Research Partners

Patients are partners in our research — through patient engagement and our Patient Advisory Committee, the KRI is dedicated to enhancing the patient voice in kidney research and conducting research that is meaningful for patients.

Innovation

Seattle has been at the heart of kidney innovation since Belding Scribner and his team invented the Scribner shunt and Clyde Shields stepped up to become the first maintenance dialysis patient in 1960. The KRI continues that spirit of innovation with new technologies like the kidney-on-a-chip and kidney organoids, new diagnostic tests, new directions in precision medicine, new ways to advance person-centered care, and new treatments to prevent kidney disease and treat its complications. Researchers in lab

The KRI performs a broad range of clinical and translational research studies to accomplish this work, from bioengineering design, laboratory studies, and physiology studies to clinical epidemiology and health services research. The KRI is also a leader in clinical trials, which most immediately bring the newest treatments to patients.

Learn about our studies

Learn about innovative projects

Diversity in Kidney Research

Kidney disease affects both women and men and disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minority populations and people at the highest social risk. The KRI seeks to improve kidney health for all. Some KRI research focuses directly on understanding and mitigating disparities, and all KRI research strives to advance equity by focusing on issues with broad impact and enhancing diversity at all levels.

Patient-oriented research studies include populations as diverse as those with or at risk of kidney disease. Our Patient Advisory Committee represents the diversity of kidney patients. And we support diversity in researcher training and hiring. We are fortunate to receive financial support from the Mount Baker Foundation specifically to enhance diversity in the next generation of kidney disease leaders. And our investigators are already leaders in promoting diversity throughout medicine.

Laboratories, Centers, and Projects

Freedman Lab

Seeking to understand how microscopic events produce macroscopic organs and disease. Our model is the kidney, a beautiful, complex, and vital organ

Shankland Lab

Studying PD-1 signaling in aged kidneys and diseased podocytes.

Center for Innovations in Cancer & Transplant (CICT)

Integrating healthcare and research to transform the lives of people with cancer and organ transplants.

Kidney Precision Medicine Project (KPMP)

A collaboration of leading research institutions to study patients with kidney disease. The KPMP is an ambitious, multi-year project funded by the NIDDK to understand and find new ways to treat chronic kidney disease (CKD) and acute kidney injury (AKI).

Learn more

Collaborations

We collaborate with many outstanding organizations in service of our mission and vision.

Northwest Kidney Centers (NKC)

NKC provides approximately 292,167 dialysis treatments during a year, about a quarter of all dialysis treatments in WA state, for 1,936 patients who dialyze in one of our centers or at home with our support.

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