RETEBESKO

Rechargeable Telemetry-Based Electrochemical Sensors: Kidney Oxygenation and health

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Translational research for human health on major diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity requires modalities that can monitor an ever widening spectrum of physiological signals over extended periods of time in animal models unhindered by anaesthesia or restraint. We hypothesize that a novel generation of in vivo rechargeable, telemetry-based electrochemical sensors will facilitate continuous recording of a hitherto uncharted spectrum of signals in different tissues and thereby will hugely improve testing and validation of new drugs as well as our understanding of physiology and pathophysiology.

Elucidating the link between renal oxygenation and kidney health, will have major impact in the clinical practice, making it a very promising and timely subject. To allow such a breakthrough this proposal will start with the realisation of a telemetry-based solution for chronic measurement of oxygen in the kidney.

This inherently multidisciplinary project will partner with the University of Auckland, a leading site in biomedical engineering, for the development and testing of novel telemetry devices. In acute experiments surgical methods and hardware will be refined and tested before progressing to experiments in conscious animals. Thereafter renal oxygen will be continuously recorded in an accepted rat model of chronic kidney disease without and with therapy to confirm disturbed oxygen homeostasis and to evaluate treatment efficacy.

This fellowship will not only generate groundbreaking technology, knowledge and expertise to study kidney oxygenation, but it will also allow me to be at the forefront of a new area in physiology research. On my return to the home institute we will be able force breakthroughs within the European Research Area for mechanistic studies on hypoxia-dependent progression of kidney disease.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Monitoring a wide spectrum of physiological signals is paramount to maintaining health and deciphering the therapeutic outcome of different drugs. In this context, a European project has set out to develop a revolutionary device capable of measuring kidney tissue oxygen levels and function.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a condition associated with progressive loss of renal function. Diagnosis is based on the biochemical detection of creatinine levels blood plasma to assess the filtration ability of kidneys and protein in the urine to assess integrity of the renal filters (glomeruli).

Accumulating evidence indicates that CKD is linked to low kidney tissue oxygen levels. However, the mechanisms underlying oxygen regulation in the kidney remain elusive as it has not been possible to measure kidney oxygen levels in vivo.

The EU-funded 'Rechargeable telemetry-based electrochemical sensors: kidney oxygenation and health' (RETEBESKO) study aims to generate a telemetry-based solution for measurement of oxygen levels in the kidney. The project is collaborating with the University of Auckland, a leader in biomedical engineering for the development and testing of telemetry devices.Testing experiments will be performed in healthy rodents before proceeding to specific kidney disease models. In these, renal oxygen will be continuously recorded with and without therapy to confirm disturbed oxygen homeostasis and to evaluate treatment efficacy.

The developed telemetry-based technology constitutes a world first sensor capable of monitoring deep tissue oxygen levels. The long-term plan is to use this device to unravel the fundamental regulatory mechanisms implicated in kidney tissue oxygenation. By understanding this regulation it will be possible to design novel treatment modalities and improve the clinical outcome of CKD patients.