It is estimated that 30 million adults in the US have chronic kidney disease, which is the slow, progressive loss of kidney function, resulting in what is known as "end stage renal disease". The number of people on waiting lists for a kidney transplant is growing and even though the number of kidney donations is increasing, the number of people that die waiting for one is woeful. Last year, according to wired.com, for every 1 person that received a kidney, 5 more didn't and 4000 of them died. It is due to this, that millions of people all over the world spend hours, every week, hooked up to dialysis machines. Dialysis machines however, have a lot of side effects and ultimately, they don't cure kidney disease, but aside from a transplant, dialysis is the only thing keeping end stage renal disease patients alive. However, dialysis will soon become a thing of the past thanks to The Kidney Project.
The Kidney Project
When it comes to funds for research into kidney disease, the figures are very low. In fact, the US government gives dialysis companies about 50 times more money than it gives towards kidney disease research. However, the lack of funds did not stop Dr. Shivo Roy and Dr. William Fissel and their team at the University of California, San Francisco, who, after 20 years of hard work, have designed a bio-artificial kidney that they are now ready to take to human trials.
The Device
The device itself is smaller than a regular coffee mug and will be surgically inserted into the patient's body the same way that a kidney, from a donor, would be inserted. The device has two modules that help get rid of waste. The first is the hemofilter, it takes in blood cells and puts it through a process that results in a watery ultrafiltrate that contains dissolved toxins along with sugars and salts. The second is a bioreactor of kidney cells, which takes the sugars an salts and sends them back into the blood, while the toxins are concentrated into urine and sent to the bladder.
Donate
The biggest obstacle for The Kidney Project was funding, even though they're at the stage where they're just waiting for the approval for human trials, they still need all the donations they can get, so that they can get the device out to the millions of people around the world that need it and to help them further develop the device. Donation link: https://makeagift.ucsf.edu/site/SPageServer?pagename=A1_API_GeneralGivingForm&Primary=Pharmacy&ACode=B2915
This topic is close to my heart, as my father is in need of a kidney transplant. I did not know much about kidney disease until my father was diagnosed with end stage renal disease, two years ago. My father needs this device and any donation to the cause would be appreciated by me, my father and millions of people around the world.
Thanks for reading!
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References
https://www.wired.com/story/artificial-kidneys/
https://pharm.ucsf.edu/kidney
https://www.kidney.org/kidneydisease/howkidneyswrk
https://www.cdc.gov/kidneydisease/pdf/kidney_factsheet.pdf