Houston Daily

The University of Houston is joining a new collaboration with Texas Medical Center institutions to train researchers focused on kidney, urologic, and blood disorders. The effort aims to address the significant burden of these diseases in Houston by building a stronger scientific workforce.

Led by Baylor College of Medicine, the group will receive $6.25 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health to establish the Houston Area Incubator for Kidney, Urologic and Hematologic Research Training (HAI-KUH). The incubator will fund six predoctoral students and six postdoctoral associates chosen through a competitive process. Trainees will be supported in scientific research, professional development, and networking.

At the University of Houston, Jeffrey Rimer, Abraham E. Dukler Endowed Professor of Chemical Engineering, serves as program director. Rimer is recognized for his work using crystal engineering to develop treatments for malaria and kidney stones.

“We currently have an NIH R01 grant with UT Southwestern Medical School where we are developing next-generation drugs to treat calcium-based kidney stones,” said Rimer. “This new NIH-sponsored training program will enable us to recruit talented students and postdocs to work on these challenging areas of research.”

HAI-KUH brings together 58 investigators from several major institutions: Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, University of Houston, Houston Methodist Research Institute, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Rice University, and Texas A&M University Institute of Biosciences and Technology.

The principal investigators for the project are Dr. Alison Bertuch (Baylor/Texas Children’s), Peter Doris (UT Health), and Margaret Goodell (Baylor). Core leads include Dr. Chester Koh (Baylor/Texas Children’s), Rachel Miller (UT Health), and Dr. Rayne Rouce (Baylor/Texas Children’s). Co-investigators working with Rimer are Dr. Wolfgang Winkelmeyer (Baylor), Oleh Pochynyuk (UTHealth), Dr. Rose Khavari (Houston Methodist), and Pamela Wenzel (UT Health).

The initiative is funded by grants from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.