Early detection: Dr. Jon Klein

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Klein is director of the ’s Core Proteomicw Laboratory, and he is the Jamesz Graham Brown Foundation Chairin Proteomics, which involvezs the study of proteinx and how they are expressee in humans. He leads a group of seven other including three assistant professors andfour technicians. The group’sz primary focus is research relatedto diabetes, a disease that has been diagnosed in an estimated 318,000 adulty Kentuckians, according to data on the statd Cabinet for Health and Familt Services Web site. Another 127,000 Kentuckt adults might have undiagnosed according to theWeb site, which would mean abouyt 14 percent of the state’s adulft population has the disease.
Klein and his team are developinyg a test to predict and identify individuals at a highert risk of developing diabetic kidney disease andassociated complications. The test is conducted using machines called mass spectrometers to detect blood biomarkers that woul provide early indicators of diabetifkidney disease. Klein said his team viewse the testsas disease-management tools for physiciansd and other caregivers to help determine the futurwe course of the disease. Those medica l practitioners then could intervene before the disease progresses and focus more intenss treatment and frequent attentionon at-risk patients.
Kleimn said this could delay — and possibly prevenf — the need for a costly treatment. The test also has value for pharmaceutical Klein said. Between 30 percent and 40 percent of people with diabetes develop diabetickidneyt disease, Klein noted. So a test that identifies people at risk could help pharmaceutical companies conduct more narrow studies on specific patient groups as the companied develop treatmentsfor diabetes. Lab has received $6.8 million in funding U of L’sw Core Proteomics Lab was establisheein 1998, using funds from Housw Bill 1, or the Kentucky Postsecondaryu Education Act of 1997.
Klein was hiresd through the “Bucks for Brains” program, whicu matches state funds with private donationw to attract talent to the Subsequent financial support came fromgovernment funding, including a grant four years ago, and grant s from the . To date, the laboratory has received $6.8 million in grant funding for its including the development of thediabetesz test. Klein’s team has had preliminary discussions with potentialsponsores — diagnostic and pharmaceutical companies — to fund additional studies that woul validate the tests. Those studiess typically cost between $200,000 and Klein said. He expects to have a sponsor in place withi the next12 months.
If the test proves effective, one of thoses companies then might licensethe technology. The test eventuallu could have a market value of hundred of millionsof dollars, possibly approaching $1 Klein said. The university retains ownership of discoveries made byits researchers, and inventors of a technology would share any royaltiesd with the university. Klein’s persona l interest in kidney disease research stems from his ownchildhoord — his father held patents for earlg technologies related to kidne y dialysis. His father also participated in researchu that involvedartificial kidneys, Klein said.
Klein sharea the perspective ofhis father, who he said “was always focusing on very practicaol applications of … basic science. “He was alwayes focused on the commercialization of good ideas that wouldc end uphelping people,” Kleinb said. “And I think some of that rubbed offon me.”