kidney Archives

William Fissell, MD, has been working on the Kidney Project to create an implantable bioartificial kidney for the last decade.

VUMC, UCSF win KidneyX award for implantable home dialysis system

Jul. 22, 2020—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.

Implant one day may replace dialysis

May. 18, 2020—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.

Vanderbilt investigators lead effort to create map of the human kidney

Oct. 31, 2019—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.

YAP after acute kidney injury

Aug. 16, 2018—Activation of the signaling protein YAP may be a target for treating acute kidney injury, which affects up to 20 percent of hospitalized patients.

Kidney disease imaging

Mar. 22, 2018—Making multiple measurements with MRI can provide comprehensive information about the molecular and cellular changes caused by kidney injury.

Cell skeleton and the brush border

Jan. 31, 2018—Vanderbilt researchers have discovered a role for microtubules — part of the cellular “skeleton” — in organizing the unique sidedness of the epithelial cells that line organs like the intestines.

Motoring to the tips of the brush border

Oct. 6, 2016—New findings implicate a motor protein in the assembly of the brush border in the intestines and kidneys – a specialized surface that is critical for healthy organ function.

Immune system a must for kidney repair

Nov. 12, 2015—A signaling protein that is essential for recovery from acute kidney injury works by increasing the population of tissue-repairing immune cells.

VUMC receives NIH grant to develop artificial kidney

Nov. 3, 2015—The National Institutes of Health has awarded a four-year, $6 million grant to investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) to develop an implantable artificial kidney.

Surprising finding in the kidney

Apr. 16, 2015—TGF-beta signaling in the kidney was thought to be a target for reducing renal fibrosis, but Vanderbilt researchers report that fibrosis still occurs in the absence of TGF-beta signaling.

VUCast: Ingenious Inventions

May. 21, 2014—In the latest VUCast: Check out some creative inventions by Vanderbilt students; see how a "bionic man" has ties to Vanderbilt; and learn details about a new academic building under construction on campus. All this and more in the latest VUCast, Vanderbilt's online newscast. Watch now.