Harvard University licenses kidney engineering technology to newly launched startup

Powerful combination of 3D bioprinting and stem cell-based tissue engineering could enable new approaches to treating chronic kidney disease

28-Feb-2022 - A newly launched startup is building upon innovations developed over several years at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering & Applied Sciences (SEAS), and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (Brigham) to engineer ...

New protein neutralizes COVID in tiny human kidney

Modified ACE2 tricks virus into binding with it instead of real cell

03-Feb-2021 - Northwestern Medicine scientists have developed a new protein that acts as a trickster to neutralize the COVID-19 infection in a human kidney organoid, a miniature organ made from stem cells in the lab. The protein is a variant of ACE2 (angiotensin converting enzyme-2), the receptor the ...

Renal reabsorption in living devices

3D bioprinted, vascularized proximal tubules mimic the human kidney's reabsorption functions

06-Mar-2019 - Every day our kidneys tackle the daunting task of continuously cleaning our blood to prevent waste, salt and excess fluid from building up inside our bodies. To achieve this, the kidneys' approximately one million filtration units (glomeruli) first remove both waste products and precious ...

This tiny particle might change millions of lives

Nanoparticle targets kidney disease for drug delivery

22-Aug-2018 - Remember the scene in the movie Mission: Impossible when Tom Cruise has to sneak into the vault? He had to do all sorts of moves to avoid detection. That's what it's like to sneak a targeted drug into a kidney and keep it from getting eliminated from the body. Since kidneys are the filtering ...

Nanotechnology advances could pave way for implantable artificial kidney

12-Nov-2015 - Research that could lead to the development of a surgically implantable, artificial kidney, was presented at ASN Kidney Week 2015. Advances in nanofilter technology were produced in collaboration between investigators from UCSF and Vanderbilt University. The research recently received a new $6 ...

Researchers find hormone that predicts premature death in kidney patients

Discovery will allow earlier interventions

12-Sep-2011 - Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have found that high levels of a specific hormone can predict which kidney patients will develop heart problems, require dialysis or die prematurely."This discovery allows us to predict at-risk patients before they require dialysis," ...

Novartis receives FDA approval of Tekamlo

31-Aug-2010 - The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Tekamlo® (aliskiren and amlodipine) tablets, a single-pill for the treatment of high blood pressure combining the only approved direct renin inhibitor, Tekturna® (aliskiren) with the widely used calcium channel blocker, amlodipine. Tekamlo is ...

Researchers eyeing new way to measure elusive zinc

29-Jan-2010 - A team of Florida State University researchers will use a five-year, $1.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a way to measure levels of the trace metal zinc in the human body. Scientists have long known that zinc plays a critical role in numerous biochemical ...

On the move: Mobile elements in the DNA

07-Aug-2009 - Rather than sticking to a single DNA script, human brain cells harbor astonishing genomic variability, according to scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The findings, published in Nature, could help explain brain development and individuality, as well as lead to a better ...

Protein excreted in urine may be help in diagnosing kidney disease caused by HIV

27-Jul-2009 - New data collected at Columbia University Medical Center and by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine are helping researchers understand the extent to which a certain protein – NGAL – can play a significant role in marking chronic kidney disease resulting from HIV while at the same time ...