The long-term interest of my laboratory is to understand molecular mechanisms responsible for cold storage (CS)-induced renal damage. My research focuses on exploring novel mechanisms by which CS alters protein quality and renal function after transplantation, and importantly, to identify a possible therapeutic target that could lead to improved renal outcome after transplantation. Specifically, I plan to investigate the roles of proteasome, heat shock proteins and complement pathway during CS plus transplantation. We have established a rat kidney transplantation model, which will be fundamental in studying my independent research project on CS mediated renal damage. In addition, I’m also collaborating with Dr. MacMillan-Crow to study the molecular mechanisms that disrupt mitochondrial dynamics during renal CS and transplantation using our rat kidney transplant model.