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Peter Agre honored for research in kidney disease

Lynn Mena

Last November, Peter Agre '70, M.D., was presented the 1999 Homer W. Smith Award, which is given annually by the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and the American Heart Association to a medical researcher judged to have made a major advance in understanding kidney disease.

The award specifically recognizes Agre's discovery and work on aquaporins - a family of molecular membrane water channels. "All of our tissues are comprised of water, it's the most fundamental component of all life forms," explains Agre. "But how does the water move from the cells within our tissues? And why are some tissues, such as the linings of our lungs, so much more permeable than others? It has long been believed that these tissues contain water channels, but no one had ever been able to find proof of their existence."

In 1991, Agre, who is a professor in the biological chemistry department and director of the graduate program in cellular and molecular medicine at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, made the discovery of aquaporin-1, the first molecular membrane water channel. His finding ultimately revealed an entire family of water channels now called "aquaporins." ASN Highlights (the official publication of the ASN) wrote that the discovery "represented a major breakthrough," and has led to a greater understanding of many inherited and acquired water balance disorders (such as kidney disease).

"The discovery was a big surprise and tremendous luck," says Agre, who is a blood specialist. "It's not going to be a cure for cancer or anything, but the human ramifications are just unfolding - every year the enthusiasm builds." His discovery has resulted in numerous national and international speaking engagements, including stops in Sweden, England, Brazil, New Zealand, Russia and most of the medical universities in the United States.

Agre received a B.A. in chemistry from Augsburg in 1970 (a choice perhaps influenced by his father, the late Courtland Agre, who taught chemistry at Augsburg from the 1950s to the '70s). He went on to receive his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University, where he developed an interest in biomedical research. After completing a medical residency at Case Western University and a clinical fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he returned to Johns Hopkins for a research fellowship in the cell biology department. In 1984, he became a faculty member in the department of medicine at Johns Hopkins.

Agre's past honors include national finalist for the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Young Investigator Award for the American Federation of Clinical Research. He was awarded Augsburg's Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1995. He also serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Clinical Investigation and the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

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