CRPM has achieved significant milestones, securing multi-investigator grants and facilitating the transition of senior fellows into tenure-track positions. Its impact is evident in the numerous awards and grants received, including NIH P01 awards, R01s, K-awards, an AHA Strategically Focused Network Grant, and training grants from various organizations. Notably, its presence within a clinical department addresses critical research gaps in kidney physiology and vascular biology at UAB.
Since 2014, CRPM faculty and trainees have garnered numerous honors for their research efforts, including Pittman Scholars, Endowed Professorships, and Max Cooper Awardees. Its research endeavors have attracted substantial funding, totaling over $50 million from NIH, AHA, other organizations, and industry sources.
The CRPM's research scope has widened to encompass diverse cardiorenal issues, including sickle cell nephropathy, water and electrolyte disorders, and the role of the autonomic nervous system in renal function control. Collaboration among its investigators is a cornerstone, facilitated by regular forums that promote idea-sharing and feedback. This collaborative spirit fosters a conducive environment for scientific breakthroughs, evident in impactful publications across prestigious journals.
In essence, the CRPM's decade-long journey underscores its commitment to advancing the understanding of kidney disease, hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. Looking ahead, the collaborative ethos and research excellence within the CRPM position it to continue making significant contributions to the field for years to come.
Cardio-Renal Physiology Research
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David Pollock, Ph.D.
David Pollock, Ph.D.
David M. Pollock, Ph.D. is the James A. Schafer Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cardio-Renal Physiology & Medicine Section at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and Co-Director of the UAB Hypertension Research Center. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry from the University of Evansville and his Ph.D. at the University of Cincinnati. This was followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Pollock spent two years as an Investigator at the Institute for Circadian Physiology at Harvard University before working in drug discovery at Abbott Laboratories in Chicago. In 1995, he accepted a faculty position at the Medical College of Georgia (now known as Augusta University) where he eventually became a Regents’ Professor and Head of Experimental Medicine in the Department of Medicine. In 2014, he moved to UAB to assume his current role.
Dr. Pollock’s wide range of research interests focuses on high blood pressure and kidney disease. Dr. Pollock’s lab has uncovered how endothelin regulates renal handling of high salt diets as well as key preclinical evidence for use of endothelin antagonists in the treatment of diabetic and sickle cell nephropathy. Since coming to UAB, most of his recent work has focused on circadian-related mechanisms contributing to blood pressure control and end-organ damage as well as the relationship between organ-specific molecular clocks following changes in diet. This includes a clinical study examining how the time-of-day salt is consumed on blood pressure rhythms and nocturnal hypertension.
Dr. Pollock has held many service leadership positions including several journal editorships and served as the 87th President of the American Physiological Society. In 2013, Dr. Pollock received the Lewis K. Dahl Award from the American Heart Association, and in 2016, was awarded the Ernst Starling Lectureship from the American Physiological Society. Dr. Pollock also received the 2020 Max Cooper Award for Career Excellence in Research from the UAB Department of Medicine.
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Subhashini Bolisetty, Ph.D.
Subhashini Bolisetty, Ph.D.
Dr. Bolisetty is an Associate Professor in the Division of Nephrology. She received her bachelor’s degree in industrial biotechnology in India and her Ph.D. at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She received her first postdoctoral training under the guidance of Dr. James George in the department of Surgery and a second postdoctoral fellowship under the guidance of Dr. Anupam Agarwal. Dr. Bolisetty became an Assistant Professor in the Division of Nephrology in 2016 and was promoted to an Associate Professor in 2021.
Dr. Bolisetty’s research program focuses on understanding the interplay between iron metabolism and inflammation in kidney disease. She has received support from various funding sources, including the NIH, AHA and PKD Foundation. She currently serves as a PI on one R01 and as a co-investigator on 4 additional R01s. She has published over 40 manuscripts, a book chapter and several review articles. Dr. Bolisetty enjoys teaching and is involved with numerous courses for the graduate school. She is also the recipient of the UAB GBS Teaching award. She serves on the graduate thesis committee for students and serves as a mentor for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. At UAB, she serves as the chair of the membership committee for the Asian American and Pacific Islander Faculty Association and serves as the Faculty advisor for She’s the First organization. On the national front, she serves on committees for the American Physiological Society, American Society of Nephrology and American Heart Association. She also serves on the editorial board for the American Journal of Physiology Renal physiology, Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology and Frontiers in Medicine – Nephrology.
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Jennifer Pollock, Ph.D.
Jennifer Pollock, Ph.D.
Jennifer Pollock, PhD, FAHA, FAPS, trained in protein chemistry at UNC-Chapel Hill examining structure-function of prothrombin activation. Her postdoctoral studies with Dr. Ferid Murad, 1998 Nobel Laureate, were the first descriptions of NO synthase in the vasculature and provided a basis for continuing studies on the regulation of NO in cardiovascular disease. Her research has focused on endothelial function and, especially how early life stress mediates vascular disease as well as control of sodium handling by the kidney. With over 250 publications and an H-index of 63, Dr. Pollock has made a lasting impact on the fields of vascular biology and kidney physiology.
Dr. Pollock is an Endowed Professor in the Department of Medicine, Co-Director of Cardio-Renal Physiology & Medicine Section, Associate Director of the Center for Free Radical Biology, and a member of the MSTP Advisory committee at UAB. She also serves as the Pre-doctoral T32 Institutional Training Program Director for the Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) Partner Network, and more recently, Director of the Professional Development Core of the Deep South Interdisciplinary Mentored Education Program (KUH PRIME).
Over the past 20+ years, she been a leader and/or team member of 5 multi-investigator, multi-disciplinary, translational NIH grants of which 4 are currently active. She has also received multiple AHA grants as PI as well as numerous AHA fellowship grants for her trainees. Dr. Pollock has mentored over 100 undergraduate, medical, and graduate students as well as fellows and junior faculty. She has been PI of multiple NIH training grants including an active T32 and two R25’s as well as TL1 leader for the UAB CCTS.
Dr. Pollock has held many leadership roles within her university and national societies including the current Past-President of the American Physiological Society. She received numerous honors for her research and mentoring including the AHA Lewis K. Dahl Memorial Lecture and the APS Bodil Schmidt-Nielsen Distinguished Mentor and Scientist Award.In 2022, she was awarded the Max Cooper Award for Research Excellence.
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Bryan Becker, Ph.D.
Bryan Becker, Ph.D.
Dr. Bryan Becker joined the Cardio-Renal Physiology and Medicine (CRPM) division in late 2015 as a postdoctoral fellow under the guidance of Dr. David Pollock. His decision to pursue postdoctoral training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) was largely influenced by the vibrant community within the CRPM. While recognizing Dr. Pollock's mentorship as invaluable, Dr. Becker was drawn to the collaborative environment and shared research vision among fellow trainees and distinguished faculty members.
Over eight years later, Dr. Becker transitioned to a faculty position within the CRPM in 2021, reflecting his satisfaction with the choice to join the division. He continues to regard the CRPM community as its greatest strength, fostering collaborative opportunities, diverse expertise, and support for innovative research approaches.
Dr. Becker's research career focuses on unraveling the mechanisms underlying cardiovascular disease, with a specific emphasis on understanding alterations in the autonomic nervous system during hypertension and heart failure. His current research projects involve investigating the role of renal sensory nerves in the development and maintenance of hypertension, as well as exploring the circadian control of autonomic function and blood pressure using a novel circadian gene knockout rat model.
In addition to his research endeavors, Dr. Becker is deeply committed to training the next generation of biomedical researchers and medical professionals. He has mentored numerous undergraduates through summer research programs and informal laboratory settings and plays an active role in teaching within the CRPM division. Dr. Becker also directs the CRPM section's Scientific Mentoring and Review Training (SMART) program, which provides trainees with presubmission review and mock study section experience.
Currently, Dr. Becker's laboratory consists of a lab manager, undergraduate researcher, and master’s student, with plans to recruit graduate students in the near future. His research endeavors are supported by a K01 grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), focusing on elucidating the role of renal sensory nerves and altered autonomic balance in hypertension, as well as an intramural pilot grant from the Integrative Center for Aging Research.
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Malgorzata Kasztan, Ph.D.
Malgorzata Kasztan, Ph.D.
Malgorzata Kasztan, M.S., Ph.D. earned her medical research degree in laboratory medicine from the Medical University of Gdansk, Poland, in 2014. During her graduate studies, she developed research skills in renal physiology and determined that extracellular nucleotides via purinergic receptors activation increase glomerular permeability to albumin in physiological and pathophysiological conditions (low sodium diet, diabetes). This led to her moving to UAB as a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. David Pollock. During her fellowship, Dr. Kasztan led the study that demonstrated a critical role of endothelin-1 in the development and progression of sickle cell nephropathy. This included a novel study that endothelin A receptor antagonism rescued kidney from injury by preserving kidney structure and function of sickle cell mice. This pre-clinical work provided key evidence and rational for phase 1 clinical trial in patients with sickle cell kidney disease. Additionally, in collaboration with Dr. Lebensburger in the Department of Pediatrics, she conducted longitudinal study to demonstrate that hyperfiltration is a determinant as well as predictor of the onset of long-term kidney damage in both pediatrics and murine sickle cell anemia. Dr. Kasztan and colleagues have pioneered studies on sex-specific discrepancies in sickle cell-associated renal involvement. This work undoubtedly has advanced basic science as well as clinical research and encouraged more comprehensive prospective studies on progression of sickle cell kidney disease. More recent work has focused on identifying mechanisms of renal iron handling in the acute and the progressive sickle cell kidney disease.
Dr. Kasztan’s research has led to a better understanding of mechanisms that lead to progressive sickle cell disease-associated nephropathy that have important implications for a broader understanding of chronic kidney disease, hypertension and diabetes. In this area, she over 35 peer-reviewed manuscripts in top-tier journals, including but not limited to the Journal of American Society of Nephrology, Blood Advances and Hypertension. In her yet brief career, Dr. Kasztan has already received numerous grants including an AHA post-doctoral fellowship, an ASN Joseph A. Carlucci Research Fellowship, and an AHA Career Development Award. In 2019, she was awarded a K99/R00 grant from NHLBI that led to her recruitment into the UAB Department of Pediatrics, Hematology and Oncology Division where she is now an Assistant Professor. In 2023, Dr. Kasztan received an ASN Gottschalk Award and was named a UAB Pittman Scholar.
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Carmen De Miguel, Ph.D.
Carmen De Miguel, Ph.D.
Dr. Carmen De Miguel received her B.S in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain), her Ph.D. in Renal Physiology from the Medical College of Wisconsin, and her M.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from St. Cloud State University. Research in Dr. De Miguel’s laboratory is focused on understanding how immune cells and immune mediators impact renal function and end-organ damage during hypertension, diabetes and high oxygen supplementation. Dr. De Miguel is especially interested in the interplay between the endothelin system and inflammation as well as sex differences possibly controlled by endothelin in these renal diseases. She is passionate about mentoring, science outreach and increasing diversity in the STEM field, as well as the use of social media to disseminate science.
Dr. De Miguel joined the Cardio-Renal Physiology and Medicine Section as a postdoctoral scholar in the lab of Dr. Jennifer Pollock when the section was started in 2014, and she became an Instructor in Medicine in 2017. In 2019, Dr. De Miguel was promoted to Assistant Professor of Medicine after being awarded a K01 Career Development Award and she started her independent laboratory. Since then, over 30 trainees (medical, graduate and undergraduate students, as well as gap year interns) have done research in her lab.
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Kelly Hyndman, Ph.D.
Kelly Hyndman, Ph.D.
Kelly Anne Hyndman, PhD Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Section of Cardio-Renal Physiology and Medicine. Dr. Hyndman has always been curious about how the body maintains fluid-electrolyte balance in an ever-changing environment. Whether it is a fish that migrates daily between fresh and sea water or a human that consumes a lot of dietary sodium, she has used basic science models to understand mechanisms related to fluid-electrolyte balance. Dr. Hyndman received her PhD in Zoology from the University of Florida under the mentorship of Dr. David Evans. Her doctoral work focused on elucidating the evolution and physiology of the endothelin system in fishes. From here, she completed post-doctoral research at the Medical College of Georgia under the mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Pollock, where she tested the hypothesis that endothelin and nitric oxide work in the kidney to promote salt excretion. he found that if you cannot activate the endothelin system or nitric oxide system, that a salt sensitive hypertension will develop.
Now as a PI she has three focused areas of research: 1) Understanding the physiology and regulatory mechanisms of lysine acetylation in the kidney, and how enzymes in these pathways are critical to maintain fluid-electrolyte balance. 2) Understanding the pathophysiology of epigenetic regulating pathways in acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease progression. 3) Using ‘omics to define novel regulatory pathways in the kidney during repeat exposure to dehydration. She is currently funded by multiple grants from the National Institutes of Health and has contributed to over 54 peer-review publications. She is involved in both local and national committees, include being the Co-Associate Director of the Nephrology Research and Teaching Center at UAB, and the chair of the American Physiological Society Renal Section Awards Committee.
She is a standing member of the NIH Study Section, PBKD and is the new Senior Editor for the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology. She started her faculty appointment at UAB in the Section of Cardio-Renal Physiology and Medicine, and through the support of the section and division, has built strong research and education programs to help train the next generation of scientists.
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Michael Seifert, M.D.
Michael Seifert, M.D.
Dr. Michael Seifert is a Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of Alabama Heersink School of Medicine in Birmingham (UAB), where his laboratory focuses on the role of endothelial injury and vascular inflammation in kidney transplant outcomes among children and young adults. With expertise in spatial and bulk molecular profiling of gene expression in kidney transplant biopsies using the NanoString GeoMx and nCounter platforms, his lab also investigates surrogates for future cardiovascular risk, conducts flow cytometry of circulating immune cells, and analyzes biomarkers of vascular inflammation derived from blood, urine, and tissue samples. Directed by Dr. Seifert, the laboratory conducts clinical and translational studies targeting cardiovascular and kidney transplant endpoints. These endeavors have been supported by a K23 Career Development Award (K23 DK101690) and subsequently an R01 award (R01 DK126907) aimed at studying clinical and molecular biomarkers of endothelial injury and vascular inflammation in pediatric and young adult kidney transplant recipients.
Recognizing the power of team science, Dr. Seifert has served as Principal Investigator for multi-center studies within pediatric nephrology research networks such as the Pediatric Nephrology Research Consortium (PNRC) and the Improving Renal Outcomes Collaborative (IROC). Additionally, Dr. Seifert holds significant research and administrative leadership roles, serving as the Medical Director of the UAB Pediatric Kidney Transplant Program locally and as the Clinical Studies Co-Chair of CTOT-41 (U01 AI163072) nationally. His background in endothelial injury and vascular inflammation traces back to his pediatric nephrology fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital, where he cultivated a passion for investigating the underlying mechanisms of cardiovascular and kidney transplant diseases from childhood into adulthood. Dr. Seifert emphasizes the importance of structured mentoring programs and has mentored numerous pre-doctoral medical/pharmacy students and post-doctoral clinical/basic science fellows, contributing to NIH/NIDDK-funded pipeline training programs at UAB such as KURE (R25 DK115353), PROmoTE (R25 DK112731), and T32 DK007545.
Publications
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Zhengrong Guan, Ph.D.
Zhengrong Guan, Ph.D.
Dr. Guan joined the CRPM in 2014 as an instructor and was promoted to an assistant professor soon after. She has a long-standing interest in the research of renal physiology, particularly in the mechanisms that are involved in the regulation of renal microvascular function, autoregulation, and hemodynamics, under physiological and variant pathophysiological conditions. CRPM has provided great opportunities to work and collaborate with other PIs who keep me motivated to succeed as much as possible. Our research project supported by Grant-in-Aid (GIA) from the American Heart Association (AHA) and NIH R01 grants focus on a potential signaling molecule S1P in regulating renal microvascular reactivity and contributing to the renal microvascular dysfunction in ischemia-reperfusion induced kidney injury (IRI). Current research studies reveal sex-associated differences in renal microvascular regulation, mitochondrial function and intracellular calcium handling. The lab equips with the cutting-edge facilities which are applied in the in vitro blood-perfused juxtamedullary nephron (JMN), and in vivo renal hemodynamic studies. We also use the fluorescence spectrophotometer to investigate intracellular calcium signaling in primary vascular smooth muscle cells isolated from preglomerular microvessels. We are proud of being a part of the CRPM family to celebrate the 10th anniversary.
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Takamitsu Saigusa, M.D.
Takamitsu Saigusa, M.D.
Dr. Saigusa is a physician-scientist/Associate Professor in the Cardio-Renal Physiology and Medicine (CRPM) Section, Division of Nephrology at UAB. He received his MD degree in Japan and completed Internal Medicine and Nephrology training in both Japan and the US. After completing his T32 Nephrology Fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) he joined the Division of Nephrology as a faculty at MUSC. Dr. Saigusa received a K08 career development award from the NIDDK under the mentorship of now Emeritus Professor, Dr. P. Darwin Bell, who supported him throughout his training as a fellow and faculty. Dr. Saigusa moved to UAB in 2016 and has been a member of the CRPM since then. Several summer students from the kidney pipeline program KURE and PROMOTE have been mentored by Dr. Saigusa and his lab.
Other mentees include postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Randee Sedaka, a former trainee of Dr. Jennifer Pollock’s lab, who came to his lab as a T32 fellow and is currently a key member of the lab. Dr. Saigusa serves as a physician advisor for the Kidney Disease Screening and Awareness Prevention (KDSAP). Over the years, CRPM has held monthly meetings to discuss research projects among the CRPM members. The feedback received from these meetings was valuable and it helped him obtain successful research grants.
Recently, Dr. Saigusa was awarded an R03 and a R01 from the NIDDK. His research interest is to study how plant-based protein compared to animal-based protein diet, mitigates immune response, inflammation and slows kidney cyst growth in murine models of polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Dr. Saigusa sees general Nephrology patients at the UAB Gardendale Clinic and PKD patients at the Kirklin Clinic.