Bristol Renal is an enthusiastic team of non-clinical and clinical scientists and students which aims to improve the management, treatment and prevention of renal disease, and in particular proteinuric renal disease, by a strategy integrating laboratory and clinical research.

Laboratory research focuses on cellular and molecular biology of glomerular cells in culture, seeking to understand filtration barrier function in terms of basic biochemistry and physiology, effects of disease states and to design and study potential treatments in vitro. We are taking the basic science advances into advanced models of disease with the ultimate aim of testing new and highly targeted therapies in patients with kidney disease.

Clinical research correspondingly is directed to study and treatment of glomerular disease.

Beyond the laboratory, clinical research covers the full translational spectrum such as:

• In-human discovery work that explores forward and reverse translation opportunities to treat kidney diseases in cohorts and bio-repositories.
• Mixed methods research that aims to understand, develop, and optimise complex interventions for testing in real-world clinical settings.
• Randomised controlled trials that tend to be pragmatic, addressing the important and challenging questions in kidney care and providing unbiased evidence to improve outcomes for people with kidney disease.
• Statistical and epidemiological analysis of routine data that looks for evidence of inequalities and inequities in access to care, generates hypotheses for testing in randomised trials, and improves the efficiency of those trials.
• Qualitative research to i) understand the experiences, values, priorities, expectations and care preferences of people living with kidney disease and their families, and ii) investigate clinical practitioner communication, shared decision-making and equipoise.