This review article represents the proceedings from the translational research symposium presented at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology/American Federation for Medical Research (FASEB/AFMR) meeting in May 2007 in Washington, DC. This research symposium consisted of four talks, which are individually summarized below. The first talk gave a general overview of the biomarkers in the setting of acute kidney injury (AKI), along with some data from clinical biomarker studies. The second talk discussed the preclinical studies of the emerging biomarkers in the area of AKI. The third talk discussed the biomarkers of AKI after deceased kidney transplantation, which is a unique model of kidney ischemia-reperfusion injury. The final talk discussed the role of circulating stem cells in renal tubule regeneration after ischemic injury and if they have potential for biomarkers of recovery or therapeutic intervention.