Nephrology

The clinical department of paediatric nephrology at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital is at the forefront of translational research into children’s and familial kidney disease. 2000 patients are reviewed annually including 120 with severe renal failure. Our clinical resources include a large supra-regional renal transplantation service, two renal genetics clinics (one for affected children and the other for adult relatives), comprehensive dialysis services and a specialist bladder clinic. The allied department of paediatric urology department features one of the only two UK treatment centres for bladder exstrophy. We are at the forefront of translational research into children’s and familial kidney disease.

Our research vision is to:

  • Discover genetic causes in our cohorts with kidney and bladder disease;
  • Define predictive biomarkers in children with kidney and renal tract disease;
  • Use preclinical trials to explore efficacy and safety of novel therapies (stem cells and growth factors);
  • Test novel therapies and therapeutic regimens in children with renal disease, and to refine existing therapies through prospective randomised national and international trials.

We are funded by MRC, BBSRC, NIHR, Wellcome Trust and kidney charities, and are experienced in delivering clinical research programmes, in collaboration with industry. We have strong research links locally including Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine, Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Matrix Research; nationally including UK Regenerative Medicine Platform, NIHR, and UK Registry for Rare Kidney Diseases; and internationally, including renal DNA Banks.

Our research currently includes programmes in the following areas:

  • Clinical trials, including early phase (e.g. relating to the following conditions: hypertension, chronic kidney disease, childhood nephrotic syndrome, idiopathic overactive bladder, atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome)
  • Cell biology biomarkers (e.g. novel imaging approaches, cutting edge proteomics)
  • Developmental biology genetics (e.g. bladder malformations)
  • Novel surgical techniques