Podocytes, Aging, Cilia and Cancer:

Kidney Research at the Nephrolab Cologne

Our nephrological research team focuses on the functional analysis of renal disease-relevant genes and their role in signal transduction in genetic and acquired kidney diseases. Much of our attention is on five main areas of research:

		cilia-derived signaling and the pathogenesis of cystic kidney diseases,
		signal transduction at the slit diaphragm of podocytes, specialized arborized renal cells at the kidney filtration barrier,
		kinase signaling networks involved in kidney diseases,
		the pathogenesis of renal cell carcinoma and
		age-related kidney diseases.

We are particularly interested in two different structures in the kidney, the slit diaphragm cell junction built up by podocytes at the glomerular filtration barrier and primary cilia on kidney epithelial cells. Members of our lab use a broad repertoire of techniques ranging from protein biochemistry and cell biology to animal physiology, functional proteomics and genomics. We have established various model organisms including knock-out and transgenic mice, the nematode C. elegans and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to study the molecular details of renal disease relevant genes and their role in the control of cell biology.