Urology
Research
Basic Science Research
Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital is affiliated with researchers who are seeking to discover, and ultimately treat or prevent, the causes of various urologic diseases. This research is being performed on many levels: developmental biology, molecular biology and clinical genetics.
Cathy Mendelsohn, PhDCathy Mendelsohn, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Urologic Sciences. Dr. Mendelsohn's research focuses on understanding how the urogenital system forms and on identifying the cause of urogenital malformations first in experimental, then in human models. Her laboratory is currently pursuing two projects aimed at understanding urogenital tract development:
- investigating the molecular and cellular events important for formation of connections between the ureter and the bladder
- studying the role of renal stroma in patterning the embryonic kidney
http://www.research.hs.columbia.edu/Faculty_Profiles/profiles/mendelsohn_cl.html
Ali Gharavi, MDAli Gharavi, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine and a member of the Center of Human Genetics. He has recently been awarded a grant by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Dr. Gharavi's research focuses on the genetic determinants of renal development disorders-the most common cause of end-stage kidney disease in children. These include renal agenesis (congenital absence of one/both kidneys) and renal hypoplasia (kidney underdevelopment).
End-stage renal disease requiring dialysis therapy affects one in 700 Americans. The molecular bases of renal failure are largely unknown but multiple lines of evidence suggest that genetic susceptibility is an important causative factor. Dr. Gharavi's laboratory is interested in several disorders that result in renal failure.
- Nonsyndromic defects in the urinary tract are the most common cause of end-stage renal failure in children. Renal agenesis is one of the most severe forms of malformations and is also commonly accompanied by anatomic abnormalities in the lower urinary tract such as ureteropelvic junction (UPJ) obstruction or vesicoureteral reflux . The genetic basis of these disorders is not known. Dr. Gharavi and his colleagues are studying cohorts segregating renal agenesis or VUR in order to identify genes and variants predisposing to these traits.
- IgA nephropathy is the most common form of glomerulonephritis and a significant cause of renal failure worldwide. This trait has complex determination. Starting with a collection of kindreds with familial disease, we have mapped the first locus for IgA nephropathy to chromosome 6q22-23. The laboratory's efforts are now geared towards identifying the underlying genes using approaches such as disequilibrium mapping and sequencing of positional candidates. In addition, mapping projects in newer families and a case-control cohort recruited worldwide are expected to identify additional loci and variants responsible for IgA nephropathy.
http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/humangenetics/bios.html#Gharavi
Ben Tycko, MD, PhDBen Tycko, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Pathology and also on staff of the Institute of Cancer Genetics, which was founded in 1999 to examine the molecular mechanisms and pathogenesis of cancer. One of the many topics that Dr. Tycko is researching includes the epigenetics and genetics of Wilms' tumors, a pediatric renal cancer.
http://icg.cpmc.columbia.edu/faculty_Tycko.htm
Contact
- Pediatric Urology
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