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Understanding kidney injury and the role of HNF1beta

Year:
2013
Duration:
39 months
Approved budget:
$884,663.91
Researchers:
Professor Alan Davidson
Health issue:
Renal and urogenital
Proposal type:
Project
Lay summary
Full Stage Lay Summary Acute kidney injury (AKI) refers to the sudden loss of renal function that happens when the blood filtering tubules in the kidney get damaged. These tubules can undergo self-repair by a process that involves the damaged kidney cells being 're-educated' back to a mature, fully functional state. New AKI treatments based on stimulating this process could be developed if the right regulators can be found. As a world-first, we have found that the protein Hnf1b, a 'molecular switch' that turns on other genes, is a major inducer of renal tubule cell maturation. In this proposal we wish to identify the target genes that Hnf1b switches on as this knowledge will enable us to develop new regenerative treatments that speed-up kidney repair following AKI.