# Administrative Core

> **NIH NIH P20** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $40,250

## Abstract

ADMINISTRATIVE CORE (AC) PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Urinary stone disease (USD) is the second most costly urologic condition in the US, with an annual healthcare
expenditure of more than $2 billion. Ureteroscopy (URS) via laser lithotripsy (LL) is the treatment of choice for
USD. Recently, the introduction of high power/high frequency Holmium (Ho): YAG lasers and Thulium Fiber
Laser (TFL) has fundamentally altered the clinical mode of operation in LL. Contemporary LL is often performed
using dusting and pop-dusting modes that pulverize stone to dust in situ without the need for fragment extraction.
However, there is an unmet need to develop approaches that can address some of the challenges of dusting
and pop-dusting in order to significantly improve the clinical treatment outcome regardless of stone composition,
shorten the procedure time, and lessen the risk of tissue injury. The proposed Duke FORWARD P20 Urology
Center (Duke FORWARD Center) will tackle some of the most pressing problems in treating USD with LL. The
Center's Research Project (RP) will focus on modifying the fluid medium to enhance the inherent cavitation or
photothermal ablation mechanism for stone ablation during another critical clinical procedure, called pop-dusting,
so that the treatment efficiency can be improved, while the procedure time and potentially collateral tissue
damage will be reduced. The RP will be led by Po-Chun Hsu, a promising junior investigator new to USD
research with expertise in nanotechnology for heat and thermal management that will be central to the RP's
strategy. The primary goal of Duke FORWARD's Administrative Core (AC) is to guide and support the efforts
of the Center's RP Team to successfully conduct their project and help prepare them to apply for future R01s.
The Specific Aims of the AC are to: (1) Facilitate productive collaborations among the RP Team and with the
broader CAIRIBU research community; and (2) implement a career development plan for RP PI Po-Chun Hsu
for him to gain experience and mastery in USD research knowledge and technical capabilities. If the aims of the
AC are achieved, the RP Team will have successfully accomplished the aims of their RP and will be in a position
to submit one or more follow-on R01s by Year 3 of the proposed Center. In supporting the Center, the AC will
facilitate innovative research with the potential to benefit millions of USD patients worldwide and will have
introduced this talented new USD research team to the NIDDK-sponsored CAIRIBU benign urology research
community.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10596708
- **Project number:** 1P20DK135107-01
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** PEI ZHONG
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $40,250
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-21 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10596708

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10596708, Administrative Core (1P20DK135107-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10596708. Licensed CC0.

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