The overall goal of our research program is to improve the health of children with kidney diseases, with a specific focus on the nephrotic syndrome, a rare kidney disease characterized by damage to its filtering units. Among many different contributors to nephrotic syndrome, genetic factors play an essential role in the development and progression of nephrotic syndrome. We want to discover new genes associated with the nephrotic syndrome to learn from them about the key molecular mechanisms that cause the disease. To do this, we have been analyzing genome-scale biological and clinical data collects from patients’ clinical data, their blood, and their kidney tissues. We have been applying sophisticated statistical and computational tools to these data to gain new insights about why and how nephrotic syndrome happens.
To better understand the genetic and biological basis of multiple kidney diseases and traits, we will compare and contrast these genetic signals with the kidney and non-kidney traits in the UK Biobank. Understanding whether a genetic variant that affects kidney diseases/traits also affects other diseases or traits will help us design more relevant functional follow-up experiments of novel genetic discoveries. Similarly, we will use our kidney gene expression data to discover new connections between UK Biobank human traits and kidney functions. Lastly, we will use all UK Biobank subjects without kidney disease as a reference group in studies we are conducting to find new genes and genetic variants for nephrotic syndrome. We expect that it will take at least three years to complete all the proposed analyses. Achieving these goals will help us better understand the underlying biology of kidney diseases and phenotypes that we study. Ultimately, our efforts will allow us to identify possible biological targets for diagnostics, treatments, and cures for kidney diseases.