Laura Lucientes Continente
KI-ISN Early Career Researcher Award: Clinical Science
The KI-ISN Early-career Researcher Awards recognize outstanding research in basic and clinical science published in Kidney International (KI) in 2023.
Dr. Laura Lucientes Continente is a biotechnologist specialised in immunology working in the laboratory of Dr. Elena Goicoechea at the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. She is about to complete her PhD in the field of complement system physiopathology, with a particular focus on renal diseases. Her work is dedicated to deciphering the involvement of the complement system in ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) and C3 glomerulopathy (C3G). In particular, she is studying the molecular mechanisms by which dysregulation of the alternative pathway leads to disease. In this context, understanding the biological role of the factor H protein family is one of her main interests. In fact, her recent work identified key genetic and plasma components of the alternative pathway that determine disease susceptibility, prognosis, and severity in AAV. Her expertise spans genetics, molecular biology, cell biology, and animal models of complement dysregulation. By unravelling the mechanisms of complement-mediated diseases, she hopes to contribute to both basic research and the therapeutic field.
Dr. Lucientes Continente was named one of the KI-ISN Early Career Researchers for Clinical Science for her paper, Complement alternative pathway determines disease susceptibility and severity in ANCA-associated vasculitis [https://www.kidney-international.org/article/S0085-2538(23)00759-7/fulltext].
The KI-ISN Early Career Researchers will be acknowledged in the WCN ‘Editors’ Pick of ISN Journals: KI and KIR’ session taking place Monday, April 15, 2024, from 9-10:30 am Argentina Time in Hall C2.