Overview

USC Stem Cell scientists are advancing our understanding of how the body develops, maintains and repairs the kidney and urinary system. They are also developing new regenerative treatments for the millions of patients with kidney injury and disease, bladder injury and disease, and urinary incontinence.

Statistics

  • One in 10 adults in the U.S.—more than 20 million people—are suffering from some degree of chronic kidney disease. Common causes include diabetes and high blood pressure.
  • 13 million people in the U.S. experience urinary incontinence, frequently as a result of childbirth.

Researchers

Kidney and Urinary System News

Illustrations by Doug Chayka

Cell by cell: Rebuilding the body

USC researchers are revolutionizing how we treat disease by harnessing stem cells as “living medicine.” Anyone who’s healed from a cut or a scrape has witnessed the incredible regenerative power of stem …

A circular field of cells shows a gradient of patterns, with green spots decreasing in size as cell density increases.

By exerting “crowd control” over mouse cells, scientists make progress towards engineering tissues

Genes aren’t the sole driver instructing cells to build multicellular structures, tissues, and organs. In a new paper published in Nature Communications, USC Stem Cell scientist Leonardo Morsut and Caltech computational biologist …

Wnt happens in kidney development?

A pair of USC Stem Cell mouse studies detail how progenitor cells self-renew, differentiate, and aggregate into early kidney structures, offering insights for the creation of stem cell-based artificial kidneys. A group …

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Kidney and Urinary System Videos

Dr. Nils Lindström's lab studies the molecular mechanisms that control how progenitors that exist during development differentiate into the broad range of cell types that underpin adult organ function. The lab integrates single-cell omic approaches with new microscopy and computational tools to understand how genetic changes cause abnormal differentiation in the kidney and model these genetic changes in the renal stem-cell derived organoid with the aim of identifying new treatments for kidney disease.
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