Professor Albert Ong

DM, MA, FRCP

Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease

Professor of Renal Medicine

a.ong@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 215 9542

+44 114 271 1863 (fax)

The Medical School

Full contact details

Professor Albert Ong
Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease
The Medical School
Beech Hill Road
Sheffield
S10 2RX

Profile

Albert Ong is Professor of Renal Medicine, Head of Academic Nephrology and Deputy Director for Clinical Academic Training at the University of Sheffield. He was educated at the University of Oxford and completed postgraduate medical training at University College London and Oxford.

Following doctoral studies in cell biology at UCL, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship in genetics at Oxford (KRUK Senior Research Fellow, Harris lab, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine) before taking up a new Faculty position at the University of Sheffield. He was later awarded a major Wellcome Trust Research Leave Award to establish an independent research programme at Sheffield where his main focus has been to investigate the molecular basis of cyst formation, drug discovery and translational medicine in ADPKD.

He served as the main clinical expert to the NICE appraisal panel for the use of Tolvaptan in ADPKD and chaired the Renal Association Working Group which developed the first clinical guidance for its adoption and use in the UK. He is Chief Investigator of the PKD International Consortium (CYSTic) and serves on several international editorial boards, steering groups and scientific advisory committees including the ERA-EDTA Scientific Advisory Board, the ISN Fellowship Committee and the Mayo Clinic Translational PKD Centre (USA).

Research interests

The major research goals of my laboratory have been to define the molecular basis of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), discover, develop and test new treatments and to improve the patient care pathway. We have defined the critical molecular interactions necessary for the formation, trafficking, regulation and function of the polycystin-1/polycystin-2 ADPKD protein complex and have identified several key binding partners, changes in cellular function and signalling resulting from the disease phenotype.

These findings are being used to develop new therapeutic approaches in experimental models to inhibit cyst formation or expansion with the ultimate goal of clinical translation. The clinical research programme has focussed on improving the patient pathway for patients and families with ADPKD. I am a founding member of the European ADPKD Forum which seeks to improve the multidisciplinary care for ADPKD patients across Europe through the adoption of agreed standards and an accepted patient care pathway.

Among several initiatives, we established the first UKGTN-approved comprehensive genetic diagnostic service for PKD1 and PKD2 in collaboration with the Sheffield Genetic Diagnostic Service in 2009 which has developed into an internationally used NGS panel for cystic diseases. We are an integral part of the Yorkshire and Humber Genome Medicine Centre (GMC) and the UK Renal GeCIP investigating genetic causes of rare kidney diseases as part of the UK 100K Genomes Project. We have also developed a new genetic psychosocial risk instrument for PKD (GPRI-PKD) and a semi-automated method for measuring total kidney volume from MRI (Sheffield TKV Tool).

Current projects:

Understanding the molecular basis of polycystic kidney disease.
Identifying new therapeutic targets for ADPKD in experimental models.
Improving diagnosis, prognosis and clinical outcomes in ADPKD.

Publications

Journal articles

Torres VE & Ong ACM (2020) Cellular signaling in PKD: foreword. Cellular Signalling, 71. View this article in WRRO
Magayr TA, Song X, Streets AJ, Vergoz L, Chang L, Valluru MK, Yap HL, Lannoy M, Haghighi A, Simms RJ , Tam FWK et al (2020) Global microRNA profiling in human urinary exosomes reveals novel disease biomarkers and cellular pathways for Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease. Kidney International. View this article in WRRO
Lannoy M, Valluru MK, Chang L, Abdela-Ali F, Peters DJM, Streets AJ & Ong ACM (2020) The positive effect of selective prostaglandin E2 receptor EP2 and EP4 blockade on cystogenesis in vitro is counteracted by increased kidney inflammation in vivo. Kidney International. View this article in WRRO
Omar F, Findlay JE, Carfray G, Allcock RW, Jiang Z, Moore C, Muir AL, Lannoy M, Fertig BA, Mai D , Day JP et al (2019) Small-molecule allosteric activators of PDE4 long form cyclic AMP phosphodiesterases.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(27), 13320-13329. View this article in WRRO
Ong ACM (2018) Tolvaptan slows disease progression in late-stage ADPKD. Nature Reviews Nephrology, 14(3), 146-148.
Feng S, Streets AJ, Nesin V, Tran U, Nie H, Onopiuk M, Wessely O, Tsiokas L & Ong A (2017) The Sorting Nexin 3 Retromer Pathway Regulates the Cell Surface Localization and Activity of a Wnt-Activated Polycystin Channel Complex. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN, 28(10), 2973-2984. View this article in WRRO
Ong ACM (2017) Making sense of polycystic kidney disease. The Lancet, 389(10081), 1780-1782.
Xu Y, Streets AJ, Hounslow AM, Tran U, Jean-Alphonse F, Needham AJ, Vilardaga J-P, Wessely O, Williamson MP & Ong ACM (2016) The Polycystin-1, Lipoxygenase, and α-Toxin Domain Regulates Polycystin-1 Trafficking. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 27(4), 1159-1173.
Ong ACM & Harris PC (2015) A polycystin-centric view of cyst formation and disease: the polycystins revisited. Kidney International, 88(4), 699-710. View this article in WRRO
Ong ACM, Devuyst O, Knebelmann B & Walz G (2015) Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease: the changing face of clinical management. The Lancet, 385(9981), 1993-2002.
Streets AJ, Wessely O, Peters DJM & Ong ACM (2013) Hyperphosphorylation of polycystin-2 at a critical residue in disease reveals an essential role for polycystin-1-regulated dephosphorylation.. Hum Mol Genet, 22(10), 1924-1939.
Giamarchi A, Feng S, Rodat-Despoix L, Xu YX, Bubenshchikova E, Newby LJ, Hao JZ, Gaudioso C, Crest M, Lupas AN , Honore E et al (2010) A polycystin-2 (TRPP2) dimerization domain essential for the function of heteromeric polycystin complexes. EMBO J, 29(7), 1176-1191. View this article in WRRO
Ong ACM & Wheatley DN (2003) Polycystic kidney disease--the ciliary connection.. Lancet, 361(9359), 774-776.
Newby LJ, Streets AJ, Zhao Y, Harris PC, Ward CJ & Ong ACM (2002) Identification, characterization, and localization of a novel kidney polycystin-1-polycystin-2 complex.. J Biol Chem, 277(23), 20763-20773. View this article in WRRO
Ong AC, Harris PC, Davies DR, Pritchard L, Rossetti S, Biddolph S, Vaux DJ, Migone N & Ward CJ (1999) Polycystin-1 expression in PKD1, early-onset PKD1, and TSC2/PKD1 cystic tissue.. Kidney Int, 56(4), 1324-1333.
Ong AC, Ward CJ, Butler RJ, Biddolph S, Bowker C, Torra R, Pei Y & Harris PC (1999) Coordinate expression of the autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease proteins, polycystin-2 and polycystin-1, in normal and cystic tissue.. Am J Pathol, 154(6), 1721-1729.
Ward CJ, Turley H, Ong AC, Comley M, Biddolph S, Chetty R, Ratcliffe PJ, Gattner K & Harris PC (1996) Polycystin, the polycystic kidney disease 1 protein, is expressed by epithelial cells in fetal, adult, and polycystic kidney.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 93(4), 1524-1528.

Research group

Dr Andrew Streets
Dr Manoj Kumar Valluru
Dr Maryam Ahmadi
Ms Lisa Chang
Dr Jean Winterbottom
Mr Joshua Griffiths

PhD Students

Elliot Brooks (with Iwan Evans)
Jiehan Chong (with David Beech)

Teaching interests

Education and Training

I am Academic Programme Director for Nephrology and Deputy Director for Clinical Academic Training at the University of Sheffield. I previously served as a Board member of the EU FP7 TRANCYST initial training network and the ERA-EDTA Working Group on Inherited Kidney Diseases (WGIKD).

My wider educational interests concern the support and advancement of nephrology in the developing world. I am a member of the ISN Fellowship Committee and was previously Chair of the Renal Association International Committee (2009-2013).

I have hosted an ISN Sister Centre, several International Society of Nephrology (ISN) fellows and am an ISN Educational Ambassador.

Professional activities

National and International Committees

CYSTic Consortium – Chief Investigator.
ADPKD in Europe Consortium - Co-chair.
European ADPKD Forum – Faculty member.
ISN Fellowship committee.
UK Kidney Research Consortium (UKKRC) Clinical Study Group on Cystic Kidney Diseases - Chair (2009-2014), Deputy Chair (2014-2020)
Renal Association International Committee - Chair (2009-2013), Committee member.

Editorial Boards

Editor, Nature Scientific Reports.
Theme Editor, Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation.
Review Editor, Frontiers in Pharmacology.
Faculty of 1000 Medicine, Nephrology faculty.
Subject Editor, Nephrology.
Deputy Editor, Nephron Clinical Practice (2008-2012).
Associate Editor, BMC Nephrology (2008-2012).

Advisory Boards

ERA-EDTA Scientific Advisory Board.
Mayo Translational PKD Centre, Mayo Clinic, Rochester - External Faculty.
National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) Technology Appraisal of Tolvaptan for ADPKD - Nominated Clinical Expert (2013-2015).
Renal Genomic England Clinical Interpretation Partnership (GeCIP) – Co-chair for Cystic Diseases.
Federation of European Associations of Patients Affected by Genetic Diseases (FEDERG) - Scientific Council.
UK Chinese Life Scientists Society – Fellow.

National and International Guidelines

Standardised Outcomes in Nephrology –PKD (SONG-PKD) – Steering committee.
PKD Outcomes Consortium (PKDOC) – Committee.
Renal Association Working Group for Tolvaptan in ADPKD – Chair.
ERA-EDTA Guidance for Tolvaptan in ADPKD – Committee.
KDIGO Controversies Conference on ADPKD – Invited participant and discussant (2014).