Dr. Afshinnia’s research interests are identification and modification of renal and cardiovascular risk factors at early stages aimed at improving outcome. In 2013, he initiated a number of biomarker discovery projects using metabolomic platforms, efforts which subsequently were funded by K08 and R03 awards resulted in several publications in high impact journals. Through these efforts he has been able to show alteration of human lipidome across entire CKD stages, identify increased markers of renal de novo lipogenesis and impaired mitochondrial β-oxidation as early predictors of diabetic kidney disease progression, and reveal plasma lipidomic alterations associated with other systemic complication of diabetes such as diabetic retinopathy and neuropathy. His research is focused on identification of mechanistic contributors of lipidomic alterations in CKD and diabetes, along with identification of targets for interventions aimed at ameliorating disease progression and improving outcome.