# Developmental Center for Human Urinary Bladder Myogenic Mechanisms by Ion Channels in Health and Disease

> **NIH NIH P20** · UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE HEALTH SCI CTR · 2020 · $157,087

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
The goal of this P20 project is to establish the Developmental Center for Human Urinary Bladder Myogenic
Mechanisms by Ion Channels in Health and Disease (DC-HUB) focused on the role of smooth muscle ion
channels in overactive bladder (OAB) etiology and related detrusor overactivity (DO). The DC-HUB Center will
be based at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) and involves the Colleges of Pharmacy
and Medicine. The proposed studies will benefit from the robust clinical and basic science environments of the
UTHSC campus. UTHSC has many established biomedical sciences investigators and an excellent urology
team. Georgi V. Petkov, PhD, an established investigator with multidisciplinary training in biochemistry,
physiology, pharmacology, electrophysiology, and urological research will serve as the DC-HUB Center Director
and Principal Investigator. A major strength of our strategic program on ion channel research that puts us at the
forefront of basic urological research is our conduct of this research in collaboration with an impressive cadre of
clinical scientists including 11 faculty members and 15 MD urology residents. Robert Wake, MD, an established
UTHSC clinical urologist, will coordinate the urology team effort. The collaboration will be supported by Eric
Rovner, MD, an internationally renowned OAB urology expert and his clinical team based at the Medical
University of South Carolina (MUSC), consisting of 7 faculty members and 15 MD urology residents. Voltage-
gated potassium ion (KV) channels and transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are expressed in the urinary
bladder. Our central hypothesis is that KV and TRP channels are key regulators of urinary bladder physiology,
and therefore, changes in their expression, function, or regulation may lead to DO/OAB. Our team can regularly
make use of donor bladder specimens to study KV and TRP channel function in humans and correlate basic
science findings with patient clinical profiles. We will use bladder tissues both from patients without an OAB
clinical history (controls) and from subjects with OAB or urodynamically proven DO (idiopathic or neurogenic) as
well as experimental animals, including models of DO. These novel benign urology investigations within the DC-
HUB Center will provide fertile ground for future establishment of a George M. O’Brien Urology Research Center
Program at UTHSC. The DC-HUB Center will have a major impact on improving healthcare with strong potential
to better understand OAB etiology and provide novel therapeutic approaches to help a large population of OAB
patients. Given OAB/DO prevalence and the need for new therapies, this research is highly significant. The DC-
HUB Center will also establish and maintain an Educational Enrichment Program targeting advanced high
school, undergraduate, professional doctor of pharmacy, and medical students, further facilitating outreach to
the urology research community.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10019540
- **Project number:** 5P20DK123971-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE HEALTH SCI CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Georgi V Petkov
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $157,087
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10019540

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10019540, Developmental Center for Human Urinary Bladder Myogenic Mechanisms by Ion Channels in Health and Disease (5P20DK123971-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10019540. Licensed CC0.

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