Research in the Nephrology Division

Program in Membrane Biology

Program in Glomerular Disease

Post-Doctoral Fellowships

Nephrology Research Faculty

Brian D. Adair, Ph.D.
M. Amin Arnaout, M.D.
Dennis A. Ausiello, M.D.
Jodie L.Babbit, M.D.
Sylvie Breton, Ph.D.
Dennis Brown, Ph.D.
Horatio Cantiello, Ph.D.
Peter Christmas, Ph.D.
Iain Drummond, Ph.D.
Louis Ercolani, M.D.
Nelson Góes, M.D.
Garner Haupert, M.D.
Jiang X. Kang, M.D., Ph.D.
J. Michael Lazarus, M.D.
Herbert Y. Lin, M.D., Ph.D.
Vladimir Marshansky, Ph.D.
Boris Nikolic, M.D.
John L. Niles, M.D.
Sanja Sever, Ph.D.
Roy J. Soberman, M.D.
Megan Sykes, M.D.
Ravi Thadhani, M.D., MPH.
Nina E. Tolkoff-Rubin, M.D.
Alfred Van Hoek, Ph.D.

Waichi Wong, M.D., MPH.
Jian-Ping Xiong, Ph.D.
Jing-Wei Xiong, Ph.D.


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Overview of basic and clinical research in the MGH Nephrology Division.

The Nephrology Division's research programs are directed towards the elucidation of basic cellular mechanisms and the causes, management and potential therapies of kidney disease. Major research activities are carried out by investigators in sixteen basic research laboratories. Cell biological, molecular biological, biophysical, structural and genetic methodologies are used to understand specific aspects of epithelial, endothelial and leukocyte functions, membrane protein organization, membrane transport, organogenesis, cell adhesion and migration and cell growth and differentiation. Ongoing projects stratify into the following themes:

Molecular Basis of Water, Acid and Solute transport (Investigators: Ausiello, Breton, Brown, Cantiello, Ercolani, Marshansky, Sever, van Hoek)

Renal injury and Repair (Investigators: Adair, Arnaout, Christmas, Soberman, Lin)

Developmental Biology and Genetics (Investigators: Arnaout, Drummond, JW Xiong)

Clinical Epidemiology (Investigators: Bhan, Thadhani, Wong)

Vascular Biology and Hypertension (Investigators: Arnaout, Haupert, Kang, JW Xiong)

Inflammation, Autoimmunity and Transplantation Biology (Investigators: Adair, Arnaout, Goes, Niles, Nikolic, Tolkoff-Rubin, Sachs, Sykes, JP Xiong)

Genomics, Proteomics applied to diabetes mellitus and cancer (Investigators: Arnaout, Thadhani)

Receptor Dynamics (Investigators: Adair, Arnaout, JP Xiong)

Medical Informatics (Investigators: Bahn)



A major new basic research effort based in the Nephrology Division is an MGH Structural Biology Program aimed at determining the three-dimensional structure of molecules, in order to gain more insight into their function with the potential of developing antagonists that could be used therapeutically. A crystallography facility equipped with a state-of-the-art automated X-ray Imaging System (R-AXIS IV), X-ray Generator, Silicon Graphics computers and protein modeling software is staffed by three crystallographers and has been in full operation since March 1 1998.

Active clinical and translational research programs in hypertension, preeclampsia, transplantation, dialysis and outcomes research complement and extend the basic science programs of the Nephrology Division.

Specific projects include:

Function, regulation and trafficking of aquaporin water channels, proton pumping ATPases, cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), sodium channels and the vasopressin V2 receptor;

Role of dynamin in vesicle trafficking

Mechanisms of renal ischemic injury and repair

Biology of TGFß and its receptors

Role of the cytoskeleton in ion transport

Chemical structure of hypothalamic Na-K-ATPase inhibitor

Role of G proteins in membrane protein targeting in epithelium

Monitoring receptor signaling by intramolecular FRET

Molecular basis of leukocyte adhesion and its role in inflammation and injury

Podocyte biology

Transcription factors involved in myelomonocytic differentiation

Crystal structure of adhesion and immune-related proteins

Role of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies in autoimmune vasculitis

Genetic analysis of kidney development in zebrafish

Molecular and cell biology of autosomal polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD)

Branching morphogenesis

Proteomic and metabolomic analysis of diabetic nephropathy

Role of fish oil in cardiovascular and renal disease

Metabolic bone disease

Molecualr basis of allograft rejection and tolerance