(Re)Building a Kidney Consortium (RBK) Opportunity Pool - 2023

The (Re)Building a Kidney consortium (RBK) is an initiative funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) that has developed two strategies to address the challenges associated with treating kidney diseases:

1. A “rebuild strategy” that includes de novo kidney fabrication (synthetic kidney) with stem cells and replacement by transplantation, and
2. A “repair strategy” that involves the induction of the innate kidney repair system to stimulate productive in vivo repair/regeneration of nephrons to restore failing kidney function.

The RBK recognizes that collaborations are essential for the RBK to fully achieve the objectives of rebuilding and repairing kidneys. Thus, the ATLAS-D2K Center, the coordinating Hub for the RBK, will administer a funding opportunity to support research efforts that address scientific gaps and challenges identified by the RBK or to form new partnerships. Applications are sought from both internal and external investigators to support collaborative research efforts.

Funding Opportunity Announcement

The RBK Opportunity Pool (RBK OP) invites investigators to submit applications that, if successful, will become part of the RBK (For more information see RFA-DK- 19-007). The RBK OP aims to support the goals and address keys areas of scientific interest to the RBK through the solicitation of additional projects and/or expertise in specific subject areas that promote collaborative efforts between RBK researchers and/or forge new interactions with the outside community.

This funding opportunity is open to all researchers.

There are several key areas of scientific interest to the RBK which include, but are not limited to, the following:

Rebuilding strategies

• Develop standardized protocols and methods that enhance organoid maturation and the production of organoids at scale.
• Develop tests to assess physiologic function(s) of organoids in culture and upon organoid engraftment in vivo.
• Devise novel approaches to successfully connect in vitro generated kidney tissue/organoids engrafted to host collecting duct/ureter and vasculature systems.

Repair strategies

• Develop new tools to non-invasively image repair and regeneration.
• Develop mouse reporter lines to study adaptive, maladaptive and failed repair.

Awardees Announced

The ATLAS-D2K is happy to announce the following awardees of the 2023 RBK Opportunity Pool:

• Nils Lindstrom, University of Souther California - “Stepwise Developmental Mimicry Generates Proximal Tubules in Organoids”
• Kyle McCracken, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital - “Integrating UB Collecting Systems into hPSC-derived Kidney Organoids”
• Elizabeth Nguyen, Seattle Children’s Hospital - “Single-nuclei Multiome Atlas for a Mammalian Model of Kidney Regeneration”