USC partners with the Keck School of Medicine of USC to fund and staff the newly renamed Vito M. Campese, M.D./UKRO Kidney Research Center of USC (KRC), which features two floors of state-of-the-art laboratories designed specifically for kidney research. The KRC collaborates with world-renowned physicians and scientists from multiple departments and centers at USC and beyond. A dynamic campus promotes groundbreaking research and houses three hospitals, giving investigators the opportunity to learn from a diverse patient population.
KRC scientists are searching for answers to the most important questions about the kidney and kidney diseases. Their work focuses on:
- Creating a synthetic transplantable kidney with stem cell therapies.
- Uncovering new treatments and metabolic biomarkers for polycystic kidney disease (PKD).
- Preventing hypertension and developing individualized cures.
- Developing novel therapies for acute kidney injury.
- Discovering biomarkers for kidney cancer.
- Protecting the health of living kidney donors.
- Examining health policy and economics pertaining to kidney disease to improve patient care.
Principal Investigators
KENNETH R. HALLOWS, M.D., PH.D., F.A.S.N.
Director, USC/UKRO Kidney Research Center; Professor of Medicine; Chief, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension
NURIA M. PASTOR-SOLER, M.D., PH.D., F.A.S.N.
Associate Professor of Medicine; Assistant Dean of Mentoring for Keck School of Medicine
ZHONGWEI LI, PH.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine and Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
EUGENE LIN, M.D., M.S.
Assistant Professor of Medicine; Clinical Fellow, USC Schaeffer Center
The History of the Kidney Research Center
In September 2012, UKRO entered into an agreement with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, pledging $3.5 million to establish a premier center nationally for kidney research—the USC/UKRO Kidney Research Center (KRC). The research labs officially opened in September of 2015. In 2024, the center was renamed the Vito M. Campese, M.D./UKRO Kidney Research Center of USC to honor our co-founder Dr. Campese’s 50 years of service at the Keck School of Medicine.
Read about research projects at the KRC.