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The UKRO Story

Our nonprofit was founded because of one simple question.

How can so little be known about kidney disease—a problem that affects 1 in 7 adults in the U.S.?

After entertainment lawyer Ken Kleinberg’s kidneys failed, he and his physician, Dr. Vito M. Campese, then Chief of Nephrology and Hypertension at USC, founded University Kidney Research Organization (UKRO) to fund life-saving kidney research.

To boost innovative solutions, UKRO partnered with the University of Southern California to establish the newly renamed Vito M. Campese, M.D./UKRO Kidney Research Center (KRC) on USC’s Health Sciences Campus in Los Angeles.

Our mission is to transform patients’ lives by funding groundbreaking research, educational outreach, and inspiring the next generation of nephrologists and researchers. Through our support of the KRC, we facilitate the discovery of new solutions, primarily the development of a fully transplantable “synthetic” kidney, made from stem cells, that can replace dialysis.

A Stem Cell Revolution at USC

Synthetic kidney project team leader Dr. Zhongwei Li has recently been recognized with a prestigious NIH Directors’ New Innovator award.

His team was the first in the world to generate high quality kidney-forming cells quickly. They have since developed mini kidneys that self-organize in the lab and are already being used to test treatments for genetic disorders, including polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Read more.

Watch our video to learn about the synthetic kidney and UKRO.