Research Interests

The challenge: new therapies for patients with renal disease

The field of renal regenerative medicine includes the development of new stem cell-based therapies and tissue engineering strategies may offer alternatives for renal transplantation. Kidney disease is a widespread and debilitating health issue facing millions of people all over the world. In particular, progression to end-stage renal disease is now a critical health issue where the incidence is rising rapidly at a rate of around 6-8% per year worldwide, due particularly to the alarming increase in Type II diabetes. Currently, the only treatment available for patients with end-stage renal disease is long-term dialysis or kidney transplantation. Given the poor quality of life associated with dialysis, the huge healthcare costs and the ever increasing organ transplant waiting lists, it makes the development of new treatments for kidney disease of the utmost importance.

Adult Stem Cells and Kidney ‘Self-Repair’

The development of adult stem cell therapies in combination with newly discovered repair factors may offer alternatives for renal transplantation and long-term dialysis.  The potential of stem cells represents one of the greatest opportunities in medicine. They are found in embryonic tissues and adult organs and have potential uses in therapies designed to repair and regenerate organs. Importantly, cell therapy using bone marrow stem cells for patients with blood abnormalities has been used since the first successful bone marrow transplant in 1968. Now 40 years on, the great hope is that cell-based therapies may be used to replace dead or damaged tissue in patients with a variety of diseases.
Kidneys are formed from stem cells during embryonic development. The study of growth factors essential in normal kidney development allows for the advancement of novel therapies to promote kidney growth and repair. Growing evidence suggests that the reinitiation of genes that control the formation of the kidney may also assist with regeneration of damaged kidney cells in adults.
There is also increasing evidence that some populations of bone marrow-derived cells can play a beneficial proliferative, angiogenic, and anti-fibrotic role that promotes cellular regeneration and tissue remodelling. We are interested in the control of kidney ‘self-repair' and the bone marrow-derived cells that drive this process. These cells may therefore provide an important link between the production of cells produced from the bone marrow and the regeneration of kidney cells following damage. Understanding the growth factors and mechanisms that are important during kidney development may provide avenues for the development of new regenerative therapies for adult-onset kidney disease

Confocal analysis of GFP-positive cell in kidney tissue (avi, 6.6mb)

Postgraduate Opportunities

There are a range of projects currently available within the Renal Regeneration laboratory for Honours and postgraduate study.