Remote home-based rehab to improve fitness before kidney transplant
Official title: A Remote Home-Based Rehabilitation Intervention for Kidney Transplant Candidates
Funded at University of Pennsylvania · NIH-11419006 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A home-based rehabilitation program is being tested to help adults awaiting kidney transplants become fitter and stronger while they wait.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Pennsylvania NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Philadelphia, United States) |
| Project start | September 20, 2025 |
| Project end | June 30, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $653,306 |
| NIH project number | 4R01DK144325-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11419006 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are adults 21 and older on the kidney transplant waitlist who are able to participate in a home-based exercise program.
✕Less likely to help
Patients who cannot participate in home-based activities or have contraindications to exercise may receive no direct benefit.
What this research studies
This trial will enroll adults 21+ waiting for a kidney transplant and randomize them to two different 2-arm treatment regimens delivered at home. The goal is to improve physical function, muscle strength, and daily living activities to reduce post-transplant complications and improve outcomes. Participants will perform prescribed exercises and activities at home, with remote supervision and monitoring over a defined period before surgery. Results will inform whether remote prehabilitation can be a scalable approach to support people through the transplant wait and beyond.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, patients may experience better physical function and potentially smoother recovery after transplant.
How similar studies have gone: Prehabilitation has shown promise in improving functional capacity in surgical patients, with growing but varying evidence for kidney transplant candidates.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Schrauben, Sarah Jeanne — University of Pennsylvania
- Study coordinator: Schrauben, Sarah Jeanne
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
-
Microbial clues to diagnose and predict infections in kidney transplant patients
A patient-focused project will look for microbial biomarkers in stool, blood, and urine to help doctors predict and diagnose infections in people who have had a kidney transplant.
-
Immunological mechanisms behind treatment-resistant kidney transplant rejection
This grant explores why certain kidney transplant rejections don’t respond to standard treatments and what immune cells in the graft are driving that resistance.
-
Complement-Bound Exosomes and Kidney Transplant Immunity
This project studies how kidney transplant injury and rejection happen after surgery and whether blocking certain immune pathways during organ preservation could improve transplant outcomes.
-
Blood vessel signals predicting heart problems after kidney transplant
This project studies blood markers and tissue patterns after kidney transplants to identify which patients are at highest risk of cardiovascular problems.
-
Understanding how BK virus links infection to kidney transplant rejection
This project looks at how BK polyomavirus reactivation affects kidney transplant patients and aims to use pre-transplant T cell information to tailor immunosuppression and monitoring.
-
Characterization of a LILRB3 SNP cluster and its link to kidney transplant outcomes
A study in kidney transplant recipients looks at genetic factors that may be tied to higher risk of graft failure.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.