Generating an Interconnected Kidney Tubule Architecture

Key Personnel

Iain A. Drummond (PI)
Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory

• Tom Gallegos
  Massachusetts General Hospital
• Nana Kamei
  Massachusetts General Hospital

Project Description

To restore kidney function, filtering nephrons must connect to a tubule network to pass fluid. How cells rearrange and form new connections is not known. We are using the regenerating zebrafish kidney as a model to discover how tubule interconnections are made and to uncover signals that drive cell rearrangments required to "plumb" the kidney. Knowledge of these signals will be an important part of the molecular toolbox for growing new organs.