Origin and Regulation of Kidney Progenitor Cells

Description of projects available to graduate students:
The vertebrate kidney is a complex homeostatic organ that functions to detoxify blood, maintain ion and water equilibrium, and regulate hormone release. The physiological consequences of abnormal kidney formation or function are frequently fatal, with dialysis and organ transplantation the only long-term treatments for kidney disease. Future strategies to fight kidney disease must rely on a fundamental understanding of the earliest events that lead to the formation of the embryonic kidney. Importantly, kidney structure and function is conserved among vertebrates and current evidence suggests that mechanisms of kidney development are similarly conserved. We propose to exploit the embryological and genetic features of Xenopus and zebrafish embryos to (1) identify the earliest cells (progenitors) that give rise to the pronephric kidney and (2) understand the molecular events that initiate and regulate kidney development during embryogenesis.

Techniques graduate student will learn:
-Embryology
-Microinjection
-RT/PCR
-In Situ Hybridization
-SSLP Mapping
-Explant Culture