![]() The kidneys are located between the T12 and 元 vertebrae, and they’re partially protected by ribs 11 and 12-which are the floating ribs. They also regulate blood pH, volume, pressure, osmolality as well as produce hormones. They’re like a water purification plant that helps clean the drinking water for a city. "The study exemplifies the impact of collaborative science bringing together expertise across the US and Europe to connect developmental anatomy with cutting-edge molecular, computational and microscopy tools.The workhorses of the urinary system are the kidneys which are the twin, bean-shaped organs in your body that clear harmful substances by filtering your blood. "Our approach of inferring spatial coordinates for genes expressed in individual cells could be widely used to create similar atlases of other developing organ systems-something that is an important focus of many research groups around the world," said Lindström. Based on these associations, the team predicted new candidate genes to explore in CAKUT and other kidney diseases. In specific types of cells, the researchers identified networks of interacting genes. The scientists were also able to determine the precise positions of expressed genes with known roles in Congenital Abnormalities of the Kidney and Urinary Tract (CAKUT). "By generating detailed views of the beautifully complex process by which human nephrons form, we aim to enhance our understanding of development and disease, while guiding efforts to build synthetic kidney structures," said Lindström. This allowed the researchers to compare important processes that have been conserved during the nearly 200 million years of evolution since humans and mice diverged from their common mammalian ancestor. To reconstruct nature's molecular and cellular blueprints, the team studied hundreds of human and mouse nephrons at various points along their typical developmental trajectories. "Only by understanding the logical framework of normal embryonic development can we improve our ability to synthesize cell types, model disease and ultimately build functional systems to replace defective kidneys." "There's only one way to build a kidney, and that's nature's way," said McMahon, who is the director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at USC. Their findings are publicly available as part of the Human Nephrogenesis Atlas ( ), which is a searchable database showing when and where genes are active in the developing human kidney, and predicting regulatory interactions going on in developing cell types. ![]() ![]() The team traced the blueprints for how cells interact to lay the foundations of the human kidney, and how abnormal developmental processes could contribute to disease. The study also brought in the expertise of collaborators from Princeton University and the University of Edinburgh in the UK. Published in the journal Developmental Cell, the study from Andy McMahon's lab in the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at USC was led by Nils Lindström, who started the research as a postdoctoral fellow and is now an assistant professor in the same department.
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