Prof A Richard Kitching

Group Leader
Department of Medicine - Monash Medical Centre
Monash University

Richard.Kitching@monash.edu

Contract research opportunities

My laboratory runs and number of different pre-clinical models of kidney disease, some of which are unique. 

I lead the Monash Vasculitis Registry and Biobank, from my clinical work at the Monash Vasculitis Clinic.

I established and Chair the Australia and New Zealand Vasculitis …
Society (ANZVASC) a multidisciplinary society working to improve care and reserach into vasculitis.
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Latest News

2019: Defining a link between a plasmid-derived protein and loss of tolerance via molecular mimicry, published by my lab in Nature Communications. 
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-11255-0

2018: The definitive review article on HLA and the kidney in Nature Reviews Nephrology
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41581-018-0057-8

2017: The first mechanistic explanation of how HLA protects from the risk of autoimmune disease, by my Lab in collaboration with Prof Jamie Rossjohn and other Monash Collaborators.
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22329

Research Activities


Autoimmune vasculitis often causes Drugs that are current standard of care have significant toxic effects - without a better understanding of how disease occurs it will be difficult to rationally apply or develop new treatments. Prof Kitching's research aims to help understand the pathogenesis of immune renal disease. He has made important contributions to our understanding of how leukocytes mediate kidney disease in several areas.
  • T cell epitopes in autoimmune vasculitis and autoimmune renal disease, their relationship to HLA and tolerogenic strategies
  • The fundamental biology of loss of tolerance
  • How T helper cells direct nephritogenic immune responses.
  • How autoreactive T cells mediate injury in anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis.

Techniques/Expertise

Autoimmune vasculitis
Immune kidney disease
Human samples
Mouse models of Disease
Defining antigen specific responses

Disease Models

1) Our group uses a variety of models of murine glomerulonephritis, some of which are unique to our group.
These include autoimmune and non-autoimmune models, and models mediated by humoral
 and cellular effectors.
We model all major types of rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis: anti-glomerular basement membrane disease, lupus nephritis and ANCA-associated vasculitis
2) We study acute kidney injury using murine models of cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury and unilateral and bilateral ischemia reperfusion injury
3) Although not currently a major research focus, renal fibrosis using murine unilateral ureteric obstruction as been used in the recent past.


Genetically Modified Organisms

1) Mice genetically deficient in a number of different elements of the immune system
2) HLA transgenic mice
3) TCR transgenic mice specific for myeloperoxidase

Other members with similar research interests

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Dr Patrick Reading

Department of Microbiology and Immunology University of Melbourne SEE FULL PROFILE >

Dr Stephanie Trend

University of Western Australia SEE FULL PROFILE >

Prof Jamie Rossjohn FAA FLSW FAHMS FMedSci

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Monash University SEE FULL PROFILE >