LHCH Perfusionist awarded fellowship to develop improved methods to prevent kidney injury after surgery

Congratulations to James Bennett, Clinical Perfusion Scientist at LHCH, who has been awarded a PhD Fellowship by Kidney Research UK.  This project, funded by the charity Kidney Research UK is focused on assessing the ability of free haemoglobin filtration to reduce renal cell injury.

After life-saving surgery on the thoracoabdominal (lower region of the) aorta, around half of patients develop temporary kidney problems, and around a third of patients require temporary dialysis until this problem is resolved. This can be difficult for patients, who must remain bedbound and stay for a longer period of time on critical care.

The ambition of this project is to understand the factors involved in causing kidney injury, and to develop improved methods of protecting patients from this problem after surgery. 

This fellowship follows on from the HaemoAKI study which investigates the role of blood damage in kidney injury. As a result of this work, James was presented with the Cliff Dawson memorial award for his scientific presentation at the UK Perfusion Congress in 2023.  HaemoAKI is ran with Professor Mark Field, and researchers Dr Wilm, Professor Murray and Dr McWilliam at the University of Liverpool.  The final results of the study will be available in the summer of 2025.  

Over the course of the next three years, James will be culturing kidney cells in the Wilm lab at the University of Liverpool and applying them with blood plasma donated from consenting patients from LHCH.  He will be working with Dr Andrew Chetwynd at the Centre for Proteome Research, and collaborating with an US-based lab company called Biotech Support Group.

Specifically, the work will investigate whether certain toxins can be removed from blood, to observe if this can protect kidney cells from damage.  If their theory is correct, this could lead to changes in practice in hospitals across the country to protect patients from developing kidney injury after surgery.

James spoke of this work:

“I want to thank Professor Field and Mr Kuduvalli for their support during the first three years of my PhD, and the Perfusion Department for their continued support, which ensures that improving patient care is a key priority of our department.

“Thanks also to the LHCH Research team for their kindness, patience and guidance, and the SURE group for the time and energy that they have put into public and patient engagement.

”If colleagues have an idea or a focus that they think can help improve care for patients then I’d encourage them to run with it and speak to the research team.  LHCH is very supportive of getting research off the ground and projects like this can make a real difference to patient outcomes and recovery.”

To read more about the amazing work of Kidney Research UK, and the projects that they support, please visit their website Home | Kidney Research UK.

James is pictured receiving the Cliff Dawson memorial award in 2023.