The Division and its affiliated faculty have strengths in several basic science areas. These include a strong interest in the evolving area of podocyte biology, molecular genetics of cystic disease and glomerulopathies, acute tubular epithelial cell injury, epithelial cell biology, signal transduction, lipid/phospholipase biochemistry and function, kidney development, smooth muscle biology and glucose transporters, and biomedical engineering.
Several of our faculty members have joint appointments in or close research relationships with the following divisions and departments:
- Biochemistry
- Biomedical Engineering
- Cell and Molecular Biology
- Molecular Medicine and Genetics
- Pathology
- Pharmacology
- Molecular & Integrative Physiology
As well as the following institutes/centers:
- CAMTraST
- Geriatrics Center
- Michigan Diabetes Research Center (MDRC)
- Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC)
Indicative of outstanding basic science research within the Division, the group was recently awarded a renewal of its George M. O'Brien Michigan Kidney Translational Core Center. This Center grant is awarded to only six research centers in the United States to enhance research in an already strong group of investigators. The Division has now held four consecutive five-year Center grants.
Faculty encourage MD trainees interested in basic science to participate in the Postdoctoral Research Training Program offered through the University of Michigan Medical School and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. This program provides an excellent didactic and hands-on introduction to state-of-the-art cell and molecular biological research.
Faculty involved in basic science research:
- Akira Abe, PhD, PubMed
- Farsad Afshinnia, MD, MS, PubMed
- Frank Brosius, III, MD, PubMed
- Puneet Garg, MD, PubMed
- Jennifer Harder, MD, PubMed
- H. David Humes, MD, PubMed
- Matthias Kretzler, MD, PubMed
- Benjamin Margolis, MD, PubMed
- Laura Mariani, MD, PubMed
- Anna Mathew, MD, PubMed
- Sanjeevkumar Patel, MD, MS, PubMed
- Subramaniam Pennathur, MD, PubMed
- James Shayman, MD, PubMed
- Joel Weinberg, MD, PubMed
- William Weitzel, III, MD, PubMed
- Roger Wiggins, MB, BChir, PubMed
