MDI Biological Laboratory
Kidney Disease

MDI Biological Laboratory Receives Historic Archive of Award-Winning Scientific Films

  • September 10, 2026
The MDI Biological Laboratory has received a significant gift from Dr. Reinier Beeuwkes: an archive of 16mm scientific films documenting the microscopic blood vessels of the human kidney and heart in unprecedented, dynamic detail.

Produced in Dr. Beeuwkes’ laboratory at Harvard Medical School, an archive of 16mm scientific films documenting the microscopic blood vessels of the human kidney and heart represent a landmark in the visual documentation of human anatomy and remain relevant to biomedical research being conducted at MDI Bio Lab today.

The collection centers on two films; The Vascular and Tubular Organization of the Kidney was introduced at the International Congress of Nephrology in Mexico City in 1972, and The Human Kidney: Tubules, Blood Vessels and Vascular-Tubular Relations debuted at the International Congress of Nephrology in Florence in 1975.

Both films received numerous international awards from scientific and technical film festivals across Europe and North America, recognizing both the quality of the science they documented and the cinematographic technique required to capture it.

The films were among the first to capture the three-dimensional architecture of renal microcirculation, the intricate network of microscopic vessels that regulate blood flow through the kidney. The structural relationships they reveal between blood vessels and the tubules they surround are directly relevant to questions being pursued at MDI Bio Lab today in the areas of oxygenation, metabolic regulation and perivascular biology.

The original 16mm reels will be catalogued and preserved at the Lab, where they will be available for research and teaching purposes. Selected footage will also be featured in MDI Bio Lab’s ongoing data visualization program, connecting Dr. Beeuwkes’ original observations to the scientific work happening on campus now.