Renal genome unveiled
Mapping the renal genome is important to understanding a plethora of kidney diseases and developing treatment strategies that could bring relief to thousands of Europeans. The EU-funded initiative 'European renal genome project' (Euregene) sought to identify genes responsible for renal development and disease, including associated actions and proteins involved. The project represented a group of key scientists, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and medical experts that aimed to develop new technology and tools in functional genomics that are useful in kidney research. Euregene represented an interdisciplinary project that incorporated pathophysiology, complex genetics and renal development. It worked on functional genomics technologies to create a 3D map of the embryonic and the adult kidney transcriptome in mice and Xenopus in order to build a kidney atlas. In addition, the project identified developmentally expressed genes to understand the origin of cellular components of the kidney and explored differentiation pathways from renal stem cells to areas of the kidney. It used rat and mice models to define disease processes and to identify new regulatory networks in renal pathophysiology. Euregene used rodents to model diseases such as renal stones, diabetic nephropathy, glomerulosclerosis, proteinuria. This was done to map modifier gene positions that affect disease progression and to identify new disease genes that would lead scientists closer to a cure. The project results promise to help bring hope to many who suffer from kidney ailments.
