USC-led study traces the blueprints for how human kidneys form their filtering units

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By superimposing images of several of the kidney’s filtering units, known as nephrons, researchers can visualize how little these structures deviate from a stereotypical developmental trajectory. (Image by Nils Lindstrom/McMahon Lab/USC Stem Cell)
By superimposing images of several of the kidney’s filtering units, known as nephrons, researchers can visualize how little these structures deviate from a stereotypical developmental trajectory. (Image by Nils Lindstrom/McMahon Lab/USC Stem Cell)

When it comes to building a kidney, only nature possesses the complete set of blueprints. But a USC-led team of scientists has managed to borrow some of nature’s pages through a comprehensive analysis of how kidneys form their filtering units, known as nephrons.

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. The study also brought in the expertise of collaborators from Princeton University and the University of Edinburgh in the UK.

To read more, visit https://stemcell.keck.usc.edu/nephron-blueprints.