Matthew Harer, MD, recently received a $149,960 Wisconsin Partnership Program (WPP) New Investigator Award for his project, “Non-invasive Diagnosis of Acute Kidney Injury in Premature Infants”. The goal of this two-year project is to develop non-invasive diagnostic tools to advance the diagnosis of acute kidney injury (AKI) in premature infants. Neonatal AKI affects nearly 1 in 4 neonates admitted to a Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). Current diagnostic markers for AKI do not allow physicians to determine etiology of injury, delaying diagnosis from the time of actual injury by 12 to 36 hours, effectively eliminating a clinician’s ability to prevent or provide early effective treatment. The central hypothesis is that focused kidney monitoring with renal tissue oxygenation (NIRS) and urinary metabolomic biomarkers can provide earlier and more specific diagnosis of AKI. The goal of this project is to create guidelines for NICUs throughout the state of Wisconsin with regard to prevention and diagnosis of AKI with these new non-invasive diagnostic methods.