Aug 24, 2020
Because studies predict one in
nine Americans will face some level of disease of the kidney,
understanding kidney development and nephron function is key.
Professor Lori O'Brien discusses her research into kidney
processes, describing
Lori O'Brien is a principal
investigator and assistant professor in the Department of Cell
Biology and Physiology at the University of North Carolina Kidney
Center.
In this podcast, she discusses the focus of her work, namely to
understand the development of a kidney to better understand what
goes wrong in
kidney disease. This work informs efforts to eventually
manufacture a renal replacement, and she explains that scientists
need to understand its basic biology as much as possible to do
so.
She also explains the damage of
kidney disease as well as the mistaken notion that
dialysis treatment is somehow a cure. Rather, on average, most
dialysis patients will only survive about five years because
dialysis treatment only mimics about 10% of what a kidney
actually does for the body. She then describes her work more
specifically around pluripotent stem cells that lead to the two
different cell populations in the kidney: cells that eventually
make nephrons and those that make up the connecting duct
system.
She describes challenges to each cell type, the complex
specialization of the cell types, and how they work in the body
along with the vascular and nerve network in a way that's hard to
reproduce with organoids. She describes some advances therein and
various ways they hope to problem solve.
For more, see her UNC website
at
med.unc.edu/cellbiophysio/directory/lori-obrien-phd/,
and her lab's website at obrienlab.web.unc.edu.
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK