Joseph Bonventre (Contact PI)
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Luke Lee (PI)
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Jennifer Lewis (PI)
Harvard University
Approximately 10% of the world’s adult population has chronic kidney disease (CKD) for which there are very few effective preventive or stabilizing therapeutic options. In addition, 30% of newly developed drugs are not advanced because of nephrotoxicity. We have developed efficient directed differentiation protocols to generate nephron progenitor cells (NPCs) and 3D kidney organoids from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs). At present, however, there are no effective platforms that integrate these kidney cells and vascularized organoids within microphysiological systems in vitro to develop effective kidney models for interrogation of nephrotoxicity and drug efficacy. Our proposal unites expertise in kidney organoids and disease, microphysiological systems, and bioprinting led by three experienced investigators (Bonventre, Lee and Lewis) in a unique effort to create these needed model platforms.