Satellite Healthcare Awards Six Scientists in Kidney Disease Research

Prabir Roy-Chaudhury, MD, associate professor, nephrology/internal medicine, UC Medical Center, received a 2003 Normon S. Coplon Extramural grant of $150,000 over a three-year period for research in kidney disease, from Satellite Healthcare, Inc.

Since 2001, Satellite Healthcare has awarded 19 grants for up to three years of kidney research to institutions such as Stanford University, the University of California at San Francisco and San Diego, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Emory University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Cincinnati. Satellite's Norman S. Coplon Extramural Grant Program is one of the largest private research endowments for research into chronic kidney diseases.  Satellite Healthcare is also a major contributor to research through the National Kidney Foundation and Stanford University School of Medicine.

"Renal research with clinical application has never been so important," according to Dr. John E. Moran, chief scientific officer and director of the Research Division for Satellite Healthcare, "as the number of people in the U.S. facing kidney disease is projected to increase by about 75 percent to exceed 660,000 by the year 2010."

The Normon S. Coplon Extramural Grant Program is designed to encourage and sustain renal research with both scientific merit and clinical application. The grantees represent many of the premier renal research and treatment institutions in the U.S. The national recipients of the 2003 grants are:

• Kevin T. Bush, PhD, of the University of California-San Diego for "Genes Regulating Ureteric Bud Branching Morphogenesis"
• William F. Glass, MD, PhD, of the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, VA for "Regulation of PAI-1 Expression by the Actin Cytoskeleton"
• Bertrand L. Jaber, MD, of Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston for "Cytokine Gene Polymorphisms: Novel Predictors of Acute Renal Failure Following Cardiac Pulmonary Bypass"
• Ajay K. Israni, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia for "Association of Apoptosis Genes with Delayed Graft Function in Cadaveric Renal Allografts"
• Prabir Roy-Chaudhury, MD, of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center for "The Local Delivery of Nitric Oxide for the Prevention and Treatment of Venous Stenosis and Thrombosis in PTFE Dialysis Grafts"
• Xiaonan Wang, MD, of Emory University in Atlanta for "Gene Therapy of Muscle Wasting from Uremia."

"The Normon S. Coplon Grant is particularly important to me at this stage in my career," said Dr. Prabir Roy-Chaudhury,  "as it allows me to focus all the efforts of my laboratory in the field of vascular access. I believe that using the vascular access graft as a conduit for drug delivery could have tremendous potential to reduce the morbidity from failing vascular access during hemodialysis.  I am very optimistic that this grant will allow me to get preliminary results that will result in future large-scale federal funding for this project."

Candidates wishing to apply for the 2004 Norman S. Coplon Awards with a submission deadline of February 28, 2004 should visit:

http://www.satellitehealth.com/research/extramural_grants.asp

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Satellite Healthcare was founded in l974 by Norman Coplon, MD, to focus exclusively on kidney and kidney-related disorders. Satellite Healthcare, with headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., includes: Satellite Laboratory Services, providing laboratory services to dialysis facilities throughout the U.S.; Satellite Research, sponsoring research via intramural clinical research and extramural research grants; Satellite Capital, providing venture capital to early-stage health care companies; and Satellite Dialysis, continuing a long and respected tradition of serving the Northern California community.