Kidney Disease Research Updates
Fall 2009

NIDDK Recovery Grant Funds Innovative Kidney Research Project for Students

Rural high school and college students from Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee conducted kidney research last summer alongside a team of leading scientists at Vanderbilt University as part of an innovative program supported by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds.

The funds, part of a 2-year $320,720 stimulus grant awarded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), supplement ongoing research led by Billy G. Hudson, Ph.D., professor of medicine, pathology, and biochemistry at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN. Hudson’s research focus is the glomeruli, the filters of the kidney, both in healthy kidneys and those scarred by diabetes.

"The students who participate in this summer research program get hands-on experience in doing research in an academic setting, share in the excitement of scientific discovery, and gain the satisfaction of contributing to the advancement of biomedical knowledge," said NIDDK Director Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., M.A.C.P.

The prevalence of kidney disease has risen dramatically during the past 30 years. An estimated half-million people in the United States have kidney failure, the final stage of kidney disease, with diabetes contributing to about 45 percent of cases.

More than 20 students participated in the program. Students researched how collagen functions in glomerular disease and investigated the assembly of collagen networks by studying primitive organisms such as Hydra, sea anemone, sea urchins, sea stars, soft coral, and sponge. At the end of the program, students were encouraged to conduct experiments at their own schools and to stay in touch with their university mentors.

The Aspirnaut Initiative: Promoting Science in Rural America

The summer program enhances Vanderbilt University's Aspirnaut Initiative, a model program that promotes the entry of rural high school students into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers.

"The students' experience in this summer research program gives them a sense of pride and rising expectations for academic achievement in their communities and illustrates the virtually untapped STEM talent pool in rural America," said Hudson. "In addition, this investment of Recovery Act funds helps us establish summer research internships as a key component of the Aspirnaut Initiative, which we hope will serve as a model for rural communities across the country."

The Aspirnaut Initiative was started by Hudson and his wife, Julie Hudson, M.D., assistant vice chancellor for health affairs at Vanderbilt University, in Arkansas in 2007.

An innovative feature of the Aspirnaut Initiative is the "school-begins-on-the-bus" concept for students who have 60- to 90-minute bus rides to and from school every day. The students are given Internet-connected laptops that they use to take courses in algebra, geometry, chemistry, and biology while the bus is in motion.

The program complements Vanderbilt University's ongoing Medical Student Research Program in Diabetes, also supported by the NIDDK. Two additional students in this year’s program were supported by the Short-Term Education Program for Underrepresented Persons (STEP-UP), developed by the NIDDK’s Office of Minority Health Research Coordination to introduce minority and disadvantaged students to medical research.

To learn more about the Aspirnaut Initiative, visit www.aspirnaut.org.

For more information about ARRA grants, visit www2.niddk.nih.gov/Recovery.

The National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, an information dissemination service of the NIDDK, has fact sheets and easy-to-read booklets about kidney diseases. For more information or to obtain copies, visit www.kidney.niddk.nih.gov.

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NIH Publication No. 10–4531
October 2009