Russ' research work on the development of an in vitro model for renal ischemia and elevated hydrostatic pressure associated with obstructive uropathy has been under the direction of Professor Ann Rundell.

Although thousands of patients each year suffer from kidney damange and/or failure caused by urinary obstruction, the pathological mechanisms of renal cell injury are not well understood. Tissues with impaired blood flow are characterized by both decreased oxygen supply (hypoxia)and increased carbon dioxide cntent (hypercapnia). Although investigators have examined the effects of a single stimulus, such as elevated pressure or hypoxia, on renal cells in vitro, the potential consequences of hypercapnia have largely been ignored. furthermore, during obstruction in vivo, these insults are not likely to be present in isolation. In fact, it may be the synergistic effect of elevated pressure, hypoxia, and/or hypercapnia that leads to renal failure. This project is important to the field of biomedical engineering and to the scientific community in general. Ultimately, the data obtained form Russ' study may aid in the development of mitigating therapies for renal ischemia and/or obstructive uropathy and improve the quality of life for patients.

The Dimitris N. Chorafas Foundation was founded n 1992 at the initiative of Professor Dimitris N. Chorafas. Each year the Foundation selects approximately 20 universities worldwide to receive the award, whose goal is to stimulate promising young researchers. This year's list of universities included the University of London (England), EPFL Lausanne (Switzerland), Erasmus University (Netherlands), ETH Zurich (Switzerland), George Washington University (USA), Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel), Hiroshima University (Japan), Karolinska Institute (Sweden), MIT (USA), Politechnico di Milano (Italy), Technical University of Athens (Greece), Technical University of Berlin (Germany), Technical University of Munich (Germany), Tokyo University of Technology (Japan), UCLA (USA), University of Toronto (Canada), Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), and Purdue University (USA).