The Research on Calculus Kinetics (R.O.C.K.) Society held its first in-person meeting in 3 years in Scottsdale, Arizona on March 25–26, 2022 (Figs. 1 and 2). With more than 75 urologists, nephrologists, scientists and researchers in attendance, the meeting was a resounding success and captured the enthusiasm and excitement of meeting in person.

The first session, “Hyperoxaluria and Antibiotics,” included 2 presentations on antibiotic and oxalate interactions, and presentations on a mouse model for endogenous oxalate production and on hyperoxaluria in kidney transplant recipients. The second session, “Searching for Determinants of Kidney Stone Disease,” focused on a human genome-wide association study, a human metabolomic study and a dog genome-wide and metabolic study on kidney stone disease. There were also presentations on lithogenic changes in the urine with pregnancy and on a human parenchymal study of macrophages and kidney stone disease. The third session, “Ureteral Stents and Post-Surgical Discomfort,” included 3 presentations on studies from the Urinary Stone Disease Research Network on ureteral stent discomfort and stent removal, another presentation on approaches for treating stent discomfort and a presentation on social impact of stone surgeries.

Figure 1. Dr. Rule (left) and executive committee at the members business session.

Figure 2. Audience at the members business session.

The fourth session, “Characterizing and Managing Metabolic Risk Factors for Stones,” was focused on hypocitraturia, over-the-counter sources of citrate therapy, clinical course of children with hyperoxaluria and a new data resource that links urine chemistries to clinical data in Medicare patients. The fifth session, “Characterizing and Managing Kidney Stone Events,” turned toward the economics of stone care, defining stone passage events in a clinical trial, quality of life in stone patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and geographic variation in kidney stone disease. The sixth session, “Basic Biology of Kidney Stones,” presented Dent Disease in a fly model, oxalate effects on mitochondrial and lysosomal function, new methods for stone matrix proteomics and a multi-species study of oxalate-formate handling in the gut.

The seventh session, “Laser Lithotripsy,” compared different lasers used for lithotripsy, operator duty cycle and thermal dose and measuring utility of nephrolithiasis technology. The eighth and final session, “The Asymptomatic Radiographic Kidney Stone,” discussed stone morphology to distinguish stone types, distinguishing small stones from Randall’s Plaque on computerized tomography, convolutional neural network model to segment the urinary tract system and evaluation risk of kidney stones in living kidney donor candidates.

The R.O.C.K. Society is a multidisciplinary group of investigators dedicated to unraveling the pathophysiological events of kidney stone formation, preventing the development of new stones or growth of existing stones, identifying demographic factors and diseases associated with the development of kidney stones and optimizing stone removal. The R.O.C.K. Society Annual Meeting brings together the best and brightest in the specialty to debate and discuss the latest developments and to provide an opportunity for scientific assessment and dialogue among researchers, physicians and health care providers involved in kidney stone management. The R.O.C.K. Society began in 1978 as a dedicated research society focused on kidney stone disease. Membership includes urologists, nephrologists, endocrinologists, veterinarians and PhD scientists from a variety of disciplines.