Urimem Facilitates Kidney Disease Biomarker Research

Abstract

Urine is a body fluid that can be noninvasively acquired and contains important biological information about the patient. Urinary proteins are considered to be the best resource of potential biomarkers for kidney disorders. Urinary proteins can be adsorbed to polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) or nitrocellulose membranes, which can then be dried and stored in vacuum bag. This membrane is named Urimem. The membrane can even be stored at room temperature for at least weeks without changing the quantity of eluted proteins. With this simple and inexpensive urimem, it is possible to begin preserving urine sample from all consenting patients during each stage of kidney disease development. Thus, the medical research can be conducted more economically, ultimately benefiting the patients who provided the samples. This can potentially change the landscape of medical research and medical practice.