Welcome to the Academic Unit of Nephrology

About Us

Established in 1990, the Academic Unit of Nephrology (ANU) is one of the most active renal research groupings in the UK. Its major goals are to improve understanding of the molecular basis of kidney disease, discover and test novel treatments and to translate these for patient benefit. Basic research is conducted at the Henry Wellcome Laboratories in the Medical School and clinical research through the Sheffield Kidney Institute (SKI) at the Northern General campus.

The ANU/SKI has run a highly successful MMedSci/Diploma course in Nephrology since 1995. Around 30 post-graduate students have been awarded PhDs or MDs through the unit. It is an accredited training centre of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and since 1998, has hosted 25 ISN fellows. In 2009, it was awarded the ISN Robert Schrier award for contributions to the development of international nephrology. Several former alumni are featured on this page.

Major research areas include

• molecular pathogenesis of polycystic kidney disease
• enzymatic modulation of extracellular matrix
• drug discovery in kidney disease models
• urinary biomarkers of kidney disease progression
• vascular complications of kidney disease
• the kidney and fibrosis in other organs

We have active collaborative links with the MRC Centre for Developmental Biology and Genetics, the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology and the NIHR Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit at the University of Sheffield.

Our research programme has active funding support from

• The Wellcome Trust
• The Medical Research Council
• Research Councils (UK)
• Kidney Research UK
• Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation (USA)
• Polycystic Kidney Disease Charity (UK)
• Sheffield Kidney Research Foundation (SKRF)
• The Sheffield Area Kidney Patients Association (SAKA).