New research from Vanderbilt could aid efforts to promote kidney regeneration after injury or to develop engineered organs.

Integrin-linked kinase, a central component of a complex that coordinates cell signaling involved in migration, proliferation and cell death, plays a role in kidney development and epithelial cell function.

A $500,000 KidneyX prize has been awarded to The Kidney Project — a collaboration between Vanderbilt University Medical Center and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) — for the development of an implantable dialysis system that would enable patients to safely and effectively treat kidney failure at home.

Vanderbilt researchers used pharmacological manipulations to increase salt and water transport by kidney cells grown in culture, a step necessary for realizing an implantable artificial kidney device.

Short of mandating universal diabetes treatment, regular exercise and low-calorie diets, little can be done to stem the rising tide of kidney failure — unless scientists can figure out why exactly the kidney’s filtration units, the glomeruli, stop working.

Activation of the signaling protein YAP may be a target for treating acute kidney injury, which affects up to 20 percent of hospitalized patients.

Making multiple measurements with MRI can provide comprehensive information about the molecular and cellular changes caused by kidney injury.