Characterizing the hippo pathway in renal podocytes

The essential function of the kidney is to ensure excretion of wastes and excess fluid from the body
whilst preventing molecules or cells from the blood being lost into the filtrate, urine. The filtration
barrier consists of specialist cells – podocytes, as well as endothelial cells and the glomerular
basement membrane. Podocytes are specialized epithelial cells that cover the outer surfaces of
kidney blood vessels. Podocyte injury is a hallmark of various kidney diseases, including diabetic
kidney damage, and a deeper understanding of the molecular and cellular events that lead to
podocyte injury and decreased podocyte numbers is needed to create new treatments for kidney
disease. The Hippo pathway is a chemical signaling pathway inside cells that orchestrates important
cellular functions. This pathway exists in podocytes and we aim to further characterize its actions in
these cells. This builds on previous successful work in the Reynolds Lab.