Prize winners announced at ISN’s World Congress of Nephrology
Vicente Torres and Jing Zhou recognized for advancing critical insight into polycystic kidney disease through research of excellence
The 2007 Lillian Jean Kaplan International Prize Winners announced at the ISN? World Congress of Nephrology – a celebration of the Foundation? 25 years of “Help and Hope”
Vicente Torres and Jing Zhou recognized for advancing critical insight into Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) through research of excellence.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 23, 2007 ?The International Society of Nephrology (ISN) today announced Vicente Torres, Professor of Medicine and Chair of the Division of Nephrology and Hypertension (Mayo Clinic ?USA) and Jing Zhou, Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Harvard Center of Polycystic Kidney Disease Research (Harvard University Medical School ?USA), as the 2007 winners of the Lillian Jean Kaplan International Prize.
Honoring Vicente Torres?seminal contribution at both the clinical and experimental levels of PKD research, his years of dedication to the field have recently culminated in describing the efficacy of vasopressin receptor antagonists in mouse models of PKD. His outstanding efforts serving on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Polycystic Kidney Research Foundation (PKRF) have also been instrumental to advancing the field. Upon receiving the prize Torres expressed his gratitude and sense of optimism toward the future, “It is a great honor to receive this prize. I would like to thank Mr. Thomas Kaplan and the Lillian Jean Kaplan Foundation for this award and the generous support of PKD research as well as both the ISN and the PKD Foundation for sponsoring this event?we are closer than ever today to finding a solution to this disease.”
Jing Zhou? work, described by Kaplan as ?omentous?has contributed to important breakthroughs within the field such as the first pkd1 knockout mice revealing the roles of the PKD 1 protein, polycystin-1 in embryonic development, as well as the finding that polycystin-2 homologue, polycystin-L, was a calcium-permeable non-selective cation channel. Describing the critical links between calcium, cilia and the cell cycle, Jing Zhou and her group have undoubtedly and fundamentally helped to alter PKD research and attract essential interest from researchers from other related specialties.
Commenting on the future directions toward combating the disease Kaplan expressed the ongoing dedication of the Foundation and his positive outlook for research over the coming years, “We are committed to finding ways to spur interest and investment in finding a solution to this disease?I think it is entirely reasonable that in forthcoming years we will see breakthroughs in research and treatment.”
