Drummond to Deliver Distinguished Gottschalk Lecture
We’re saying congratulations to an MDIBL leader who is delivering a distinguished lecture on Monday, Oct. 24. Iain Drummond, Ph.D., Director of the Kathryn W. Davis Center for Aging and Regeneration. Dr. Drummond is a groundbreaking researcher on the use of zebrafish as a model for human kidney development and repair, and he will give...
Continue ReadingVisiting Scientist Nishad Jayasundara, Ph.D.: Solving the Riddle of the Mysterious Kidney Ailment Plaguing Farmers Around the World
This is the third in a series of posts describing how collaborations between MDI Biological Laboratory faculty members and visiting scientists are advancing scientific progress.
Continue ReadingVisiting Scientist Gert Fricker, Ph.D.: Taking Some Lessons in Toughness from a Hardy Local Fish
This is the first in a series of posts describing how collaborations between MDI Biological Laboratory faculty members and visiting scientists are advancing scientific progress.
Continue ReadingNational Kidney Month
March is #NationalKidneyMonth and we’re celebrating MDI Biological Laboratory’s longstanding and close connection to renal physiology, starting with Homer Smith, D. Sc., (1895-1962) the renowned scientist who made many significant contributions to the field – including identifying how the kidney works. He spent a period of his career at MDIBL and his determination and curiosity...
Continue ReadingNew Horizons for the Treatment of Diabetic Complications
Chronic complications of diabetes are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality not only in the western world but worldwide. The metabolic changes caused by diabetes, especially hyperglycemia (high blood sugar levels), can lead over time to damage in the circulation system of the diabetic patient. Subsequent ischemia (inadequate blood supply reaching organs) occurs, as...
Continue ReadingFrom the Bench to the Bedside – A Long Affair with Diabetic Nephropathy
All my life I have been interested in studying the complications of diabetes. Diabetes has two sides: on the one hand it is a metabolic disorder that effects glucose levels, and the metabolism is treated by medications that lower glucose. On the other hand, over time diabetes leads to damaging changes in the vascular bed,...
Continue ReadingReport from the 2016 American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week: Using Stem Cells and Organoids to Build a New Kidney
Nephrologists have always been interested in basic biology. At the MDI Biological Laboratory, scientists have been making major scientific contributions to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of renal tubules and their implications for salt and water balance — and hence their effect on disease — for nearly a century. In recent years, the focus...
Continue ReadingSeeking to Regenerate a Kidney from Scratch
In this interview in Regenerative Medicine Network, an online publication, Hermann Haller, M.D., an MDI Biological Laboratory faculty member and director of the Department of Nephrology and Hypertension at Hannover Medical School in Hanover, Germany, discusses the quest to replace lost or damaged kidney tissue, or replace the kidney entirely.
Continue Reading