Dean Johnson
University of Rochester, NY·Biomedical Engineering
More than half a million people in the US with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), or kidney failure, depend on dialysis. Hemodialysis cleans the blood outside the body through a filter.
- Fields
Biomedical Engineering
Engineering
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
hemodialysis
wearable dialysis
end-stage renal disease
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Design a two-stage hemodialyzer using COMSOL Multiphysics modeling. A 100-nm-pore nanoporous nitride (NPN) sheet separates plasma from blood cells, and a 20–30-nm-pore sheet dialyzes the plasma.
- Bench-test the two-filter device for removal of uremic toxins from whole blood. Measure hemocompatibility, including hemolysis (red-cell damage) and complement activation, and test whether membranes withstand blood-flow and ultrafiltration pressures.
- Test the two-stage NPN sheet-membrane dialyzer in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. Determine whether continuous operation keeps toxin levels in a healthy range.
More about the research
Today it usually happens a few times a week on large floor-standing machines in a clinic. Short, spaced-out sessions leave too little time to remove large toxins and toxins stuck to blood proteins. A wearable dialyzer could run continuously and improve both health and quality of life. The barrier is that current membranes are bulky and need large blood flows to clear toxins.
Why it matters
People with kidney failure could benefit from dialysis that runs continuously in a small wearable device instead of in clinic sessions. Ultrathin nanoporous membranes that clear toxins in a compact format could make wearable, portable and eventually implantable hemodialysis practical. This could improve clinical outcomes, treatment flexibility and quality of life for patients with end-stage renal disease.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Kevin Erickson
Baylor College of Medicine, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research
Measure the uptake of telemedicine by nephrologists and advanced practice providers for in-center maintenance hemodialysis care after COVID-19 waivers, using large administrative dialysis databases.
Adriana Weinberg
University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus, CO·Microbiology & Immunology
Define the immune defects of HIV-exposed uninfected infants by profiling function, phenotype, transcriptome and epigenome of natural killer and T cells at 6, 24 and 48 weeks of life, compared with HIV-unexposed infants.
Ivan Rosado-Mendez
University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI·Biomedical Engineering
Optimize S-Doppler, a statistical and deep-learning ultrasound reconstruction method, in calibrated tissue-mimicking phantoms to maximize resolution and contrast when imaging tiny blood vessels.
The school
University of Rochester: 38 labs on PI Pages, $492M a year on research, 308 research doctorates a year.
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