Elena Torban Wins Halpin-ASN Research Grant

PHILADELPHIA—The Halpin Foundation and the American Society of Nephrology awarded the Halpin Foundation-ASN Research Grant for 2008 to Elena Torban, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Nephrology at McGill University.

The grant was created to provide funding for young faculty to foster evolution to an independent research career by providing transition funding toward successful application for an RO1 grant.

Torban will focus her research on podocytes, the cells in the glomerulus that are most important for preventing leakage of protein into the urine. Her research is important in understanding the cell and molecular basis for nephrotic syndrome, which is often caused by membranous nephropathy.

The 2007 recipient, Changli Wei, PhD, MD, of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is currently researching the role of TRPC6 in the pathogenesis of membranous nephropathy.

The necessity to gain insight into a kidney disease that causes loss of protein in the urine and a progressive decline in renal function initially partnered The Halpin Foundation with the American Society of Nephrology and led to the creation of a fund to promote research relevant to membranous nephropathy in 2004.

The Halpin Foundation dedicated itself to the study of this important kidney disease after the Halpins' 14-year-old son was diagnosed with it in 1989. The foundation is committed to obtaining answers to questions that plague the medical community, including whether there is a hereditary predisposition to the disease. In addition to enabling researchers to better understand this disease, The Halpin Foundation is devoted to raising awareness of the disease in the scientific and lay communities.

"Unfortunately, there are many unanswered questions surrounding membranous nephropathy and nephrotic syndrome, and we are grateful to The Halpin Foundation for helping us fund new investigators to study this disorder," said ASN President Peter S. Aronson, MD, FASN.