Stowers, KU Med scientists get grants to study kidney disease

The PKD Foundation has given a two-year, $150,000 grant to a scientist at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research and a $50,000 fellowship to a University of Kansas Medical Center reseacher, both to study polycystic kidney disease.
The grants are part of $4 million the Kansas City-based foundation will spend on research in 2008.
Xiaogang Li, a senior research associate in the Stowers Institute's Rong Li Lab, will study the role of a number of enzymes, called histone deacetylases (HDACs), which play a role in cell-cycle regulation and in the formation and breakdown of cilia in the kidneys, the institute said in a release. Mutations that affect the function of cilia cause PKD. New information about the function of HDACs in cells may enable the identification of new treatment targets in PKD.
The fellowship will go to Cibele Pinto at the University of Kansas Medical Center's Kidney Institute, Amy Freaney, coordinator of the foundation's grants and fellowships program, said Thursday.
Polycystic kidney disease is one of the most commont life-threatening genetic diseases, the institute said. Dialysis and transplantation are the only treatment options for kidney failure, and the disease has no known cure.
"Xiaogang Li is a very dedicated scientist who has made important contributions to the research on Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease," Rong Li, a Stowers Institute investigator, said in the release. "This grant will enable him to continue his original work to understand the disease mechanism and to identifynewpossibilitiesfor disease treatment."
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