Dr. Anthony Kanai is a tenured Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology & Chemical Biology at the University of Pittsburgh. His laboratory is funded by the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense to study lower urinary tract dysfunctions (LUTDs) including underactive bladder (UAB), radiation cystitis and those due to spinal cord injury (SCI) and characterize new therapies. SCI induced LUTDs include detrusor overactivity (DO) and detrusor sphincter dyssynergia (DSD), with high risk complications including vesicoureteral reflux, obstructive uropathy and renal failure. Mainstay treatments include clean intermittent catheterization which circumvents DSD but often leads to urinary tract infections, and antimuscarinic agents, botulinum neurotoxins and neuromodulation which are effective against DO but not DSD. We have demonstrated that the small molecule p75 neurotrophin receptor modulator, LM11A-31, dampens DO and reverses DSD. We have also developed a mitochondrial targeting strategy for the free radical scavenger, XJB-5-131, that is radioprotective and was awarded two US Patents (7,718,603 and 9,402,839). We are also the first to demonstrate the expression of relaxin receptors 1 and 2 in bladder smooth muscle and that human relaxin-2 reverses bladder fibrosis by degrading excess collagen and stopping its further deposition. It also enhances detrusor contractility in UAB by increasing the expression of L-type calcium channels.