Mission

To bring further insight into causes and consequences of kidney disease.

Focus will be on renal pathophysiology, metabolic diseases such as diabetes, non-alcoholic liver diseases, bile and gut hormones and their effects on the kidneys, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular and bone-mineral effects of uremia.

Consequences of kidney disease, chronic kidney disease and uremia are to be fully understood and prevented and reverted if possible.

Vision

To prevent disease progression and improve survival of patients with chronic kidney disease in the mild to more advanced stages through new treatment strategies developed and based on studies on pathophysiological mechanisms and on intervention studies

Strategy:

Our vision is pursued by research programs developed in close collaborations with other national and international groups and in large collaborative networks and consorts.

Consensus guidelines and evidence-based guidelines on the prevention and treatment of acute and chronic kidney diseases and transplant related diseases will be based on this work.

The patients should be involved and benefit from this and should have insight in the multidisciplinary approach to their treatment and preventive strategies.

The Laboratory for Medical Kidney Disease, Rigshospitalet is my local research base, which I head. We have a staff of one Molecular Biologist, 2 Research Nurse and 2 Laboratory Research Technicians.

National and international collaborations

1. LOFUS CKD Study in Lolland and Nykøbing Falster, with Associate Professor Kristine Hommel, Holbæk Hospital and PhD Randi Jepsen, Nykøbing Falster Hospital
2. Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway with Professor Trond Jenssen on post-transplant diabetes and validation/simplification of iohexol clearance dried blood spot method and the EU project DOKI
3. The Diabetes Research Center in Gentofte and at Department of Biomedical Sciences and Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Basic Metabolic Research by Professor Filip Knop and Professor Jens Juul Holst, University of Copenhagen on gastrointestinal, bile and metabolic studies in uremia
4. The ACUTE CAC group at Amager-Hvidovre Hospital by Professor Ove Andersen and Associate Professor Morten B. Houlind on Acute Kidney Injury/suPAR/HLPC analysis, biomarker studies
5. Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen by Professor Peter Rossing on diabetic nephropathy, metabolomic and lipidomic studies
6. Professor Jesper Hastrup-Svendsen and Professor Finn Gustafsson and Consultant Michael Perch, Department of Cardiology, Rigshospitalet on cardiovascular arrhythmia research in patients in dialysis and solid organ transplanted patients and renal complications
7. Professor Anders Bjorholm Dahl, DTU Compute and Professor Carsten Gundlach, DTU Physics, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark on Synchrotron renal tissue studies in ’The aging kidney study’
8. Professor Martin Bech, Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Sweden on Synchrotron Max IV scanning studies of ‘The aging kidney study’
9. Professor Esteban Porrini, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Department of Nephrology and University of La Laguna, Faculty of Medicine, Tenerife, Spain on studies in the ENBIBA/DOKI project and the ‘Iohexol dried blood spot validation/simplification study’
10. Associate Professor Charlotte M Sørensen, Department of Biomedicine, University of Copenhagen on renal physiology and histology studies in animals and humans

-we are in close collaboration on multiple projects developing and understanding new insight into kidney disease and its metabolic, physiological, pathological, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal complications, dialysis and transplantation. Furthermore, on the longitudinal changes in renal tissue in normal and metabolic diseased individuals (‘The aging kidney project’)

This has until now led to the following and headline ongoing and planned studies

1.Chronic kidney diseases

-Ongoing rural population-based cohort study of the incidence, prevalence, causes and risk factors for chronic kidney diseases. LOFUS-CKD Study at Lolland and Falster. PhD-study

-Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, bile and metabolomics and lipidomics in CKD 3-5 patients with diabetes and the effect of kidney transplantation and CKD in the ‘Nyre Rask' study at Rigshospitalet and Gentofte Hospital and The Østerbro-Herlev Study. PhD Therese Adrian, analysis pending

-Post-Transplant Diabetes Mellitus in Lung Transplantation-renal and metabolic consequences of two different immunosuppression regimes. Nordic Randomized open label study (Scan CLAD study). Post doc, MD, PhD Morten B Jørgensen and Thomas Lund

-European nephrectomy biobank-participating as a collaborative center in the study of early non-diabetic/diabetic and lipotoxic changes in kidney biopsies. European prospective multicenter cohort study (ENBIBA study by the Diabesity Working Group of European Renal Association and DOKI).

-PRIMETIME study. National study on diabetic histologic changes in 300 individuals with type 2 diabetes, member of steering committee

-Validation of human kidney tissue from nephrectomized patients compared with samples from living kidney donors (WP4 study) PhD-student Marie Møller

1. Dialysis:

-Cardiac arrhythmia and dialysis: impact of diabetes on cardiac arrhythmia in dialysis patients. Prospective randomized-open label study. PhD-student Dea Kofod at Department of Nephrology, Rigshospitalet

- The role of the kidneys and the liver in the elimination of glucagon. In collaboration with Professors Filip Knop and Liselotte Gluud, Gentofte and Amager-Hvidovre Hospital

-The effect of the incretin hormones and glucagon on the bone turnover markers in collaboration with post doc, MD, PhD Morten Jørgensen, Department of Nephrology, Rigshospitalet and Professor Bolette Hartman, University of Copenhagen

-Impact of diabetes and impaired incretin hormones on gastric emptying in dialysis patients-in collaboration with Associate Professor Simon Veedfald and Professor Jens Juul Holst, Biomedical Institute, University of Copenhagen

1. Acute kidney failure:

-Optimization of Nutrition And Medication (OptiNAM) for acutely admitted older patients:  protocol for a randomized single-blinded controlled trial in collaboration with post doc, Associate Professor Morten B. Houlind and Professor Ove Andersen, Amager-Hvidovre Hospital

-Utility of suPAR and NGAL for AKI risk stratification and early optimization of renal risk medications among older patients in the emergency department. In collaboration with Associate Professor Morten B. Houlind and Professor Ove Andersen, Amager-Hvidovre Hospital

-Study of the relationship between early senescent biomarkers and the progression of AKI to CKD by examining the impact of early senescent-associated biomarkers on the progression of AKI to CKD after severe ischemia reperfusion injury. Studies includes plasma biochemistry, apoptosis, senescent-associated secretory proteins (SASP), and histological staining in the kidney, aorta, and bone of the severe AKI rat model, with post doc Marya Morevati, PhD, Department of Nephrology, Rigshospitalet.

-Development and integration of a multiparametric platform to identify patients at high-risk of Acute Kidney Injury onset and evolution for improved stratification and early personalized management (StrAKIng-project) in collaboration with Professor Riccardo Vago, Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milano, Italy

-Preventing acute kidney failure by GLP-1 analogues or reduced oxygen supplementation. Randomized study at Department of Cardiology and Nephrology, Rigshospitalet, Associate Professor Christian H. Møller

1. Renal physiology:

-Role of the tubulo-glomerular feedback mechanism. Animal studies in collaboration with Associate Professor Charlotte Mehlin Sørensen, University of Copenhagen

-Pathology of glomeruli in DM2 patients treated with and without GLP-1/SGLT2i treatment-in collaboration with Department of Forensic Pathology, Rigshospitalet and University of Copenhagen

1. Transplantation

-Randomized double blinded placebo-controlled study of a GLP-1 agonist for treatment of PTDM in kidney transplantation. In collaboration with OUH and AAU. PhD student Ida Voss and Post doc, MD, PhD Tobias Bomholt

-Studies on suPAR and long-term renal function in lung transplantation and treatment with calcium channel blockade. Randomized double blinded placebo-controlled study.  Dept. of Nephrology and Cardiology, Rigshospitalet and Associate Professor Morten B. Houlind and Professor Ove Andersen, Amager-Hvidovre Hospital

-Renal and metabolic Complications in Solid organ Transplantation. Observational studies in liver, lung and heart transplantation. Department of Nephrology, Rigshospitalet

- Eye changes before and after simultaneous kidney-pancreas (SPK) transplantation. In collaboration with Professor Michael Larsen, Glostrup-Rigshospitalet

-Autonomous diabetic neuropathy before and after SPK. In collaboration with Associate Professor Thomas Almdal, Rigshospitalet

1. Methodology and emerging areas of research:

-The aging kidney project. Studies of normal and pathological human renal tissue by michro-CT and synchrotron CT at Lund University (The Max IV Synchrotron facility) and in collaboration with DTU Physics and Compute in Lyngby

-New and simple methods to measure direct glomerular filtration rate by a simplified iohexol clearance dried blood spot method. In collaboration with department of clinical physiology, Rigshospitalet and Rikshospitalet, Oslo and Department of Nephrology, Santa Cruz, Tenerife, Spain

-New insight in kidney diseases and IgA nephritis and complement changes by a study of the impact of the complement system in IgA nephritis to propose biomarkers to facilitate disease management, through our collaboration with Professor Peter Garred and department of Department of Clinical Immunology, Laboratory of Molecular Medicine, Rigshospitalet, PhD-study by Ida Mellemgaard

-Glucagon-receptors in the kidneys during uremia, studies of the pathogeneses of impaired glucose metabolism and glucagon receptors in human renal tissue. In collaboration with Associate Professor Nicolai Wewer Albrechtsen, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark; Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen

-New methods to diagnose diabetes and incretin effect in lung transplanted patients. Nordic Multicenter Study (The Scan CLAD study), Department of Cardiology, Rigshospitalet, Associate Professor Thomas Lund

-New methods to estimate endocrine function by clamp studies in dialysis patients. In collaboration with Metabolic Core Facility, Rigshospitalet and Gentofte Hospital, Professor Filip Knop

Information about scientific and professional activitetes alongside my service as Professor of Nephrology at University of Copenhagen and Consultant at Department of Nephrology, Rigshospitalet

• I am primary investigator together with Rigshospitalet in clinical trials for treatment of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and Type 2 diabetes (T2DM), Hypertension, IgA Nefritis, and FSGS: T2DM and CKD: REMODEL study (Novo Nordisk A/S), CKD: FIND CKD Study (Bayer A/S), IgA Nefritis: APPLAUSE study (Novartis A/S), CKD and Hypertension: BaxDuo ARCTIC (Astra Zeneca A/S), IgA Nefritis: Origin Study (Vera Therapeutics), RAINIERS Study (Vertex Inc), FSGS: ACTION3 Study (Dimerix Bioscience Pty Ltd)
• I have participated in scientific advisory boards advicing about CKD for: Astra Zeneca A/S, CKD: Novo Nordisk A/S, CKD: Boeringer Ingelheim A/S, CKD and anemia: GSK A/S, for IgA nefritis: Vifor A/S, all folowing application to and according to rules and legistration by, and acceptance from, Danish Medicine Agency and Rigshospitalet.
• I have teached about CKD and the consequences for patients in Denmark for the following companies: Novo Nordisk A/S, Astra Zeneca A/S, Boeringer Ingelheim A/S
• I have participated in debates about CKD and the consequence for patients in Denmark for the following companies: Novo Nordisk A/S, Astra Zeneca A/S, Boeringer Ingelheim A/S
• Pro bono I give presentations about CKD and the consequences for patients in Denmark for: The Danish Kidney Patient Organisation, Folkemødet in Allinge 2024, Capital Region and is currently member of the board of Danish Society of Internal Medicine (last term) and is participant in KDIGO Controversy Symposium 2024 on CKD and Obesity
• I hold grants for research about CKD from Augustinus Foundation, Per Henriksens Foundation, A.P. Møller Foundation, Helen Bjørnow Foundation, Danish Kidney Patients Association Foundation, Johnny Weilebys Foundation and an EU 2020 Horizon Twinnings Grant, all administered by Rigshospitalet and Capital Region