Richard Kitching

We do not have a good understanding of how different forms of glomerulonephritis occur. Drugs that are current standard of care have signifcant toxic effects - without a better understanding of how disease occurs it will be difficult to rationally apply or develop new treatments. Prof Kitching's research aims to help understand the pathogenesis of immune renal disease. He has made critical contributions to our understanding of how leukocytes mediate kidney disease in several areas.

How T helper cells direct nephritogenic immune responses. His work helped established that the Th1, Th2 and Th17 subsets are important in determining patterns of injury and outcomes in immune renal disease.

Autoreactive CD4+ cells mediate injury in antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis. A functional role for effector T cells was unknown in this disease until his publications showing that CD4+ cells provide the power that defines severe, rapidly progressive renal disease. They are the first demonstrations of a functional role for CD4+ cells in this ANCA-associated vasculitis and glomerulonephritis.

The unique biology of glomerular leukocyte recruitment and behaviour revealed by intravital and multiphoton microscopy. It had been assumed that leukocytes adhere in glomerular capillaries by rolling and that the were only rarely present in normal glomeruli. Neither of these assumptions are correct. With Prof Michael Hickey, Prof Kitching has used novel ways to imaging glomeruli in vivo to establish a new paradigm in this area, with high impact publications in top journals.

The plasminogen-plasmin (fibrinolytic) system in renal disease. Prof Kitching's papers have helped define the role of major elements of the fibrinolytic system in renal disease.

In 2007, Prof Kitching was awarded the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nephrology (ANZSN) TJ Neale Award for Outstanding Contribution to Nephrological Science. He was Chair of the ANZSN Scientific Program and Education Committee from 2007-2011, has served on NHMRC GRP Panels as a member, Deputy Chair and Chair. He is currently a member of the Editorial Boards of the Journal of the American Societly of Nephrology of of Kidney International.