This week we profile a recent publication in Science Advances from Dr. Sandrine Ettou (pictured, right) in the laboratory of
Dr. Jordan Kreidberg (left) at Boston Children’s Hospital, in collaboration with Dr. Peter Park at Harvard Medical School.
Can you provide a brief overview of your lab’s current research focus?
The focus of our laboratory is on the molecular biology of kidney development and disease. We study how signaling pathways in kidney progenitor cells are co-opted in disease processes.
What is the significance of the findings in this publication?
Our recent publication in Science Advances examines transcriptional reprogramming during podocyte injury. Podocytes are exquisitely shaped cells that resemble an octopus, that are crucial for maintaining filtration in the kidney. Podocyte injury is often the incipient event that ultimately leads to kidney failure and dialysis or transplant. We showed that the Wilms’ Tumor-1 (WT1) transcription factor, which has a fundamental role in kidney progenitor cells, is also a master regulator of gene expression in podocytes and during podocyte injury.
What are the next steps for this research?
Our future work will continue to examine how WT1 and other transcription factors regulate gene expression through epigenetic modifications during podocyte injury. Other studies in our laboratory study the molecular pathogenesis of Polycystic Kidney Disease.
This work is funded by:
Our work is funded by the NIDDK.
