Over 2 million people globally suffer from kidney failure, with many patients requiring kidney transplants for long-term survival. Our goal is to create miniature kidneys or ‘organoids’ from stem cells that closely resemble the human kidney. These organoids can model kidney diseases, help understand drivers of disease, and will potentially be a therapeutic option in the future.
Impact
With limited treatment options, chronic kidney disease affects more than 800 million people globally. Due to a shortage of suitable donor kidneys and minimal therapeutic options, the need to develop novel treatments has never been greater. Our lab creates miniature kidneys from stem cells to model and understand kidney diseases, screen drugs with renal impacts, and explore their therapeutic potential, all with the hope to alleviate the burden of kidney disease in patients globally.
reNEW research
In the Kidney Regeneration Group led by Professor Melissa Little, we have developed approaches to make complex kidney tissue (kidney organoids) from stem cells and are working towards improving their structure and function. Showing remarkable similarity to the human kidney, we are now applying these organoids to model kidney diseases and develop new treatments.
Image description
The image shows many individual kidney ‘micro-organoids’. These tiny organoids grow in suspension while being swirled in a circular motion as they increase in size and complexity. In these micro-organoids, we can see colourful balloons protruding from each one, indicating that the organoids have formed cyst-like structures.
Credits
Imaging and organoid generation: Kathleen Dominic (Research Assistant) and Allara Zylberberg (Post Doctoral Researcher).
Team Leader and Group Leader: Jessica Vanslambrouck and Melissa Little.
