Coinciding with the "http://www.worldkidneyday.org/" World Kidney Day, Dr. Daniel Seron, head of the Nephrology group at Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR), and responsible of the Nephrology Service in the hospital, talks about the state of research in kidney failure: “Approximately 10% of the population suffers any kind of kidney failure, including the asymptomatic mild forms and the severe forms which require either dialysis or transplantation. There is a close relationship between cardiovascular and kidney diseases. Patients with kidney failure have a higher risk of suffering from myocardial infarction or stroke, and the common risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, such as elderly, smoking, hypertension, diabetes and obesity, increase the risk of suffering from kidney failure. Thus, prevention measures for cardiovascular diseases are efficient to reduce the probability of suffering from this disease. For that reason, the Nephrology Service of the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital investigates the relationship between both diseases, in patients with chronic renal disease and transplanted patients. One of our research lines is the characterization, in different groups of patients, of the role of the endothelial activation, the low-grade inflammation and the endothelial regenerative capacity in cardiovascular diseases. Another point of interest is the assessment of preventive measures to impede the course of the renal disease and its consequences on the cardiovascular disease.On the other side, another of our successful strategies to reduce the cardiovascular risk of patients with kidney failure undergoing hemodialysis is the kidney transplantation. For this reason, the Service has incorporated different strategies to increase the chances for transplant for the patients who are in the waiting list, such as the definition of the criteria for using kidneys from elderly patients, the promotion of living-related transplants or the horseshoe kidney transplants. Finally, it is important to mention that in the last couple of years has increased the interest in the development of new drugs to slow the progression of the kidney injury in different common diseases, such as the diabetic nephropathy. These advances represent a great hope for the research in solutions for patients with kidney failure, and the Nephrology Service actively participates in different clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of these new treatments”.