Seminar: Zhongwei Li, Feb. 13, 2017
Zhongwei Li
“Stem Cell Based Kidney Regeneration”
Monday, Feb. 13, 2017
11:00-11:50 am
CCRC Auditorium
Kidney diseases are growing public health and economic burdens. The only cure for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or kidney failure, is kidney transplantation, which however is in severe shortage of organ donors. Alternative strategies to generate kidney organs are urgently needed. Nephrons are the functional units of the kidney. Nephron progenitor cells (NPCs) are a transient amplifying population that generates all of the nephrons of the mammalian kidney during development. Their limited numbers, ex vivo expansion potential, and difficult accessibility in humans, have slowed basic and translational research into renal development and diseases. To solve this problem, we established a novel 3D culture platform for robust long-term expansion of primary mouse and human fetal NPCs. Expanded NPCs maintain molecular homogeneity and nephrogenic potential in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo. The robustness of our culture condition enabled the capture and expansion of NPCs converted from MEF and human fibroblasts by small molecules, paving the road for the banking of patient-specific NPC lines for disease modeling and cell therapies. With the unlimited supply of NPCs and its derivative mature kidney cell types, we provided proof-of-concept for its broad basic and translational applications including the study of human kidney development, drug nephrotoxicity testing and disease modeling. More importantly, with our unique cell sources we are collaborating with bioengineers to rebuild the kidney with the ultimate goal of providing stem cell-based artificial kidneys for transplantation.