Events & News Calendar
The weekly schedule of the MGH Renal Unit seminars, Grand Rounds and conferences is posted under "Events Calender". In addition, new information about advances in research, patient care, teaching and educational programs are announced periodically in the "News" section.

Major Events
1. An End Stage Renal Disease Program, an intergated program between the divisions of Nephrology and Transplant Surgery at MGH, has been established in 2000 to provide continuity of care for the patient with renal disease from the earliest evidence of deteriorating kidney function through renal education, dialysis support and transplantation. The progarm includes all transplant surgeons, clinical nephrologists and specialized nursing staff at MGH.

2. Investigators from the MGH Renal Unit report a major scientific breakthrough- the first 3-dimensional structure of integrin aVb3. Integrins are a large family of adhesion receptors that control every aspect of cell function. Integrin aVb3 mediates tumor angiogenesis, osteoporosis and coronary reocclusioon after stint placement (restenosis) and is therefore a major drug therapy target. It is also the receptor used by adenoviruses and foot-and-mouth disease virus to infect cells. This landmark work was published electronically as a full RESEARCH ARTICLE in the Sepetmber 6 issue of SCIENCE Express. [see MGH News Website]. It has been rated by The Scientist among the TOP 10 in all of Biology for 2001 [ see The Scientist, January 7, 2002 issue].

3 . Scientists from the Renal Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital have now deciphered the detailed structure of integrin aVb3 as it interacts with its ligand (the protein that binds to this receptor). The work comes on the heels of findings published last year by this group on the structure of the same protein in its resting unbound state. The new data, were published March 7, 2002 on the Science Express website (www.sciencexpress.org). The findings were the subject of a news release from the Massachusetts General Hospital [see MGH News Website] and were highlighted in Nature reviews Molecular Cell Biology vol. 3, 313, 2002.

4. A Kidney Clinical Research Center has been established in 2003 in new space on Bartlett 9 of the main hospital campus. The Center houses the clinical research program, clinical trials and clinical transplantation research. Recent findings include a survival advantage of patients undergoing hemodialysis with paricalcitol vs. calcitriol therapy (N Engl J Med. 2003 Jul 31;349(5):446-56); involvement of angiogenic factors in preeclampsia (N Engl J Med. 2004 Feb 12;350(7):672-83); association of inflammation with the development of gestational diabetes mellitus (Diabetes Care. 2004 Jan;27(1):21-7); improvement of overall cardiovascular risk profile by conversion from cyclosporin to low dose tacrolimus for chronic maintenance immunosuppression in kidney transplant recipients (Transplantation. 2004 Apr 27;77(8):1199-202).

5. Researchers at the MGH Renal Unit describe five families with mutations in the TRPC6 ion channel associated with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a disease characterized by progressive kidney failure. They further show that TRPC6 interacts with podocin and nephrin, two components of the glomerular slit diaphragm previously  implicated in proteinuric kidney disease (Reiser et al. 2005 Nature Genetics, Published online: 27 May 2005; | doi:10.1038/ng1592)


Events Calendar
Meetings

World Congress in Nephrology, 2005 - June 26- 30, 2005, Singapore. Dr. M. Amin Arnaout will deliver the Donald Seldin Lecture entitled "Integrins in Inflammation and Disease".

World Congress in Nephrology, 2007 - April 21- 25, 2007, Rio de Janero, Brazil. Dr. M. Amin Arnaout will deliver the Donald Seldin Lecture entitled "Bone Marrow Stem Cells: Developmental Origins and Therapeutic Utility in Immune Tolerance Induction".

Nephrology Postgraduate Review Course - June 13-15, 2008 sponsored by the MGH Nephrology Division.

 

Renal Conferences of the Week

We are pleased to offer the weekly renal unit conferences. Those that are open to the medical community are indicated in asterix.

News Releases

June, 2000- Opening of a centralized new renal practice on the MGH main campus- GRB Suite 1003.

July, 2000- The U.S. News & World Report magazine ranked the MGH Renal Unit second in the country in medical care for the patient with renal disease. The survey does not include training and research programs.

July, 2001- The U.S. News & World Report magazine ranked the MGH Renal Unit the first in the country in medical care for the patient with renal disease. The survey does not include assessment of the training and research programs.

July, 2002- The U.S. News & World Report magazine ranked the MGH Renal Unit the first in the country in medical care for the patient with renal disease. The survey does not include assessment of the training and research programs.

July, 2003- The MGH Renal Unit was ranked first in the country in medical care for the patient with kidney and hypertesnion disease.

July, 2004- The MGH Renal Unit was ranked forth in the country in medical care for the patient with kidney and hypertesnion disease.

News Release Archives

New Function Found For Kidney Disease Gene- FOCUS, Feb 11, 2000.
Role Found For protein In Kidney Disease- FOCUS, January 12, 2001.
Cell Adhesion Receptor Caught on Bended Knee- FOCUS, September 14, 2001.

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