Research Interest

My research interest is to unravel the molecular mechanisms underpinning progressive kidney disease. Since diabetes mellitus now accounts for the majority of kidney failure in the world, the main focus of my research is primarily on diabetic kidney disease. A number of approaches in my laboratory are used to define the cellular and molecular mechanisms of diabetic kidney disease, including studying the single cell, cells in culture, animal models of diabetes through to studies on people with diabetes. This approach allow us to determine the molecular abnormalities present at a cellular level, the interaction between cells that go to make up the kidney and then the response of the kidney to the metabolic, biochemical, physiological and molecular abnormalities that occur in the ‘whole body’ as a response to diabetes mellitus. Once the molecular mechanisms are defined we then look for novel mechanisms that can arrest progressive disease or promote renal repair and regeneration that may act as future therapeutic targets.