Ignacio Portales‑Castillo, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology, has been awarded an NIH K08 Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award to advance his development as a physician‑scientist. The award provides $192,288 per year for five years, supporting protected research time that allows recipients to balance clinical duties with the sustained research effort needed to develop independent research programs.
Dr. Portales‑Castillo, who joined our division in 2022, provides inpatient and outpatient nephrology consults at Barnes‑Jewish Hospital and conducts research in the laboratory of Roberto Civitelli, MD, the Sydney M. and Stella H. Shoenberg Chair in Medicine and Chief of the Division of Bone and Mineral Diseases. His work focuses on bone and mineral disorders in chronic kidney disease, calcium and phosphate metabolism, and parathyroid hormone receptor (PTH1R) signaling.
His K08 project, “β-arrestin‑mediated desensitization of PTH1R at the intersection of PTH and PTHrP biologic actions” will investigate how the interaction between the parathyroid hormone receptor and the regulatory molecule β‑arrestin influences bone formation and lipid metabolism. The goal is to uncover new molecular mechanisms that contribute to kidney and bone diseases, ultimately opening the door to new therapeutic strategies.
“Obtaining this award is a result of 5 years of planning, sustained motivation from a dedicated mentorship team at Mass General Hospital and Washington University, and unwavering support from three divisions at WashU: Nephrology, Physician-Scientists, and Bone Mineral Disease.”
Ignacio Portales-Castillo
This award builds on Portales‑Castillo’s growing research portfolio, which includes a 2025 Clinical and Translational Research Funding Program (CTRFP) grant supporting his work on creatine‑based approaches to hereditary kidney disease, a Pilot and Feasibility award from the WashU Diabetes Research Center, and his recent recognition as a 2025 Dean’s Scholar.
