Skip Martin Early Career Fellowship 2011- Anna Watson
Anna Watson
This project was awarded in 2011 and commenced in 2012:-
Project Title: ‘Investigating the therapeutic benefit of renal sympathetic denervation in diabetes’
Hypertensive diabetic patients are at greater risk of developing diabetic nephropathy and are often resistant to anti-hypertensive pharmacological therapies. Recent studies show that denervation of the kidney lowers hypertension, however little is known of changes in renal innervation in diabetes. With the aid of this Fellowship I will combine my expertise in sympathetic nerve biology and diabetic nephropathy to assess the changes that occur in diabetic and diabetic-hypertensive rat kidneys and determine whether renal denervation slows the progression of diabetic nephropathy with or without co-current hypertension in spontaneously diabetic rats. These results will also be compared to treatment with standard hypertensive therapies such as inhibition of the renin-angiotensin system. The outcomes of this project will have direct therapeutic implications in the field of diabetic nephropathy and hypertension.
