Abstract:
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is reaching epidemic levels worldwide, and current treatments are insufficient to match demand. Regenerative medicine, utilizing stem cells to repair tissue offers the promise of treating a number of illnesses. Our group was the first to discover adult renal progenitor cells (RPCs) in zebrafish. We showed that transplantation of RPCs generates new kidney tissue in recipient fish. This finding paves the way for developing cell-based therapies for CKD. Here we show the work to establish gene expression profile of RPCs and investigate the role of Wnt-signaling pathway in kidney regeneration.