Sophia Sears Lab

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About

The Sophia Sears Lab's mission is to understand how different lifestyles and comorbidities influence kidney health. The lab examines how factors such as nutrition, exercise, and cardiovascular disease influence renal inflammation, and how changes in the immune landscape of the kidney affect renal blood flow and sodium handling. Their goal in understanding these relationships is to improve cardiorenal health across the lifespan. 

Team 

Sophia M. Sears, PhD (Principal Investigator) 
Nathan O’Leary (Research Technician) 

Key Research Areas 

  • Renal adaptations to exercise
  • Effects of nutrition on kidney function
  • Mechanisms of cardiorenal syndrome development
  • Immune cell regulation of renal blood flow and sodium transport 

Recent Publications

  • Jones SP, O’Leary N, Calderin EP, Singhal R, Hellmann J, de Angelis CD, Brittian KR, Welling PA, Nong Y, Sears SM. (2025) Exercise sensitizes the pressure diuresis response: shifting immune landscapes underlie renal adaptations to exercise. American Journal of Physiology: Renal Physiology; 329(3):F362-F373. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00218.2025.
  • Gouwens KR, Calderin EP, Okhiria J, Nguyen DC, Schulman-Geltzer EB, Martinez-Ondaro YR, De Silva M, Collins HE, Nong Y, Sears SM, Nystoriak MA, and Hill BG. (2025) Cardiac ketone body oxidation enhances exercise performance. Circulation Research; New Online. doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.125.326414
  • Richardson WJ, Humphrey SB, Sears SM, Hoffman NA, Orwick AJ, Doll MA, Xia C, Hernandez-Corbacho MJ, Snider JM, Obeid LM, Hannun YA, Snider AJ, and Siskind LJ (2024) Expression of ceramide synthases in mice and their roles in regulating acyl-chain sphingolipids: a framework for baseline levels and future implications in aging and disease. Molecular Pharmacology; 105(3): 131-143. doi: 10.1124/molpharm.123.000788
  • Orwick A, Sears SM, Sharp CN, Doll MA, Shah PP, Beverly LJ, Siskind LJ. (2023). Lung cancer-kidney cross talk induces kidney injury, interstitial fibrosis, and enhances cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. American Journal of Physiology: Renal Physiology; 324(3): 287-300. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00317.2022
  • Sears SM, Orwick A, Siskind LJ. (2022). Modeling Cisplatin-Induced Kidney Injury to Increase Translational Potential. Nephron. doi: 10.1159/000525491
  • Sears SM, Feng JL, Orwick A, Vega AA, Krueger A, Shah PP, Doll MA, Beverly LJ, Siskind LJ. (2022). Pharmacologic inhibitors of autophagy have opposite effects in acute and chronic cisplatin-induced kidney injury. American Journal of Physiology: Renal Physiology; 323(3): 288-298. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00097.2022
  • Sears SM, Vega AA, Kurlawala Z, Oropilla GB, Krueger A, Shah PP, Doll MA, Miller R, Beverly LJ, Siskind LJ. (2022). F4/80hi resident macrophages contribute to cisplatin-induced renal fibrosis. Kidney360; 3(5):818-833. doi: 10.34067/KID.0006442021
  • Sears SM, Dupre TV, Sharp CN, Vega AA, Krueger A, Megyesi J, Shah PP, Doll MA, Beverly LJ, Siskind LJ. (2022). Neutral ceramidase deficiency protects from cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury. Journal of Lipid Research; 63(3):100179. doi: 10.1016/j.jlr.2022.100179
  • Sears SM, Siskind LJ. (2021). Potential Therapeutic Targets for Cisplatin-Induced Kidney Injury: Lessons from Other Models of AKI and Fibrosis. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology; 32(7): 1559-1567. doi: 10.1681/ASN.2020101455
  • Sears SM, Sharp CN, Krueger A, Oropilla GB, Saforo D, Doll MA, Megyesi J, Beverly LJ, Siskind LJ. (2020). C57BL6 mice require a higher dose of cisplatin to induce renal fibrosis and CCL2 correlates with cisplatin-induced kidney injury. American Journal of Physiology: Renal Physiology; 319(4): 674-685. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00196.2020 

Sears Lab

Phone

502-852-6024 

Location

Baxter II Building, Room 219 

Email