The Secret Life of Kidneys

What do your kidneys do, how do they form, and why should you care?

Our bodies change as we grow older or suffer from illness. Our kidneys can be particularly vulnerable and can accumulate damage and function less well as years go by. For people living with aged kidneys or chronic kidney disease, the slow decline of kidneys might feel inevitable. We study an unusual type of cell that accumulates in our body over time – senescent cells. These are unwelcome in our kidneys causing scarring and damage. We have discovered that removing these cells might help protect kidneys into old age, after sudden illness and perhaps even slow down chronic kidney disease.

Kidney failure is serious and, when kidneys fail completely and permanently, the best treatment is transplantation. Patients can face a long wait for suitable organs and, even with a good ‘match’, must take drugs to prevent rejection. If we could, building new kidneys from a patient’s own stem cells would solve those problems. This talk presents early progress toward that distant goal.