800 million people have chronic kidney disease worldwide, and it contributes to 10% of all deaths. The only current treatment options are dialysis or kidney transplant. Our research aims to generate ‘mini-kidneys’ from stem cells that could help filter the blood and regenerate kidney tissue so that one day dialysis and transplant are not the only options.
reNEW research
We transplant our mini-kidneys to gain an understanding of how they grow in the body. We use machine learning to generate full 3D renders of our tissues so we can get an accurate measurement of what cell types we are generating. We combine the latest approaches in computer vision, image analysis and microscopy to completely quantify our mini kidneys so that can we assess them for quality and composition.
Image description
A kidney organoid (left) is grafted to a mouse host (right). The golden tubules represent a Kintsugi-esque repair.
Credits
Emma Scully, Bioinformatician, Little Lab, reNEW Melbourne.
Dr. Allara Zylberberg, Research Officer, Little Lab, reNEW Melbourne.
Michelle Scurr, Research Assistant, Little Lab, reNEW Melbourne (Past Member).
