Jiankan Guo

The metanephos (the permanent kidney in mammals) develops as a result of the interplay between metanephric mesenchyme (a clump of embryonic renal stem cells that root from intermediate mesoderm) and ureter bud (epithelial structure that derives from Wolffian duct). One of our long term goals is to understand the molecular events that govern kidney formation and functional maintenance by analyzing genetic or epigenetic factors. One of our other goals is to delineate pathways or to devise new methods that can induce embryonic stem cells toward renal lineage, which may eventually pave the way for repair/regeneration of renal epithelium.