The burden of kidney disease in the United States continues to grow with more than 17 million Americans living with chronic kidney disease and more than 400,000 Americans living with end-stage renal disease. Our current understanding of the pathogenesis of renal diseases is inadequate and novel therapies are urgently needed.

Investigators in the Mount Sinai Division of Nephrology are using a variety of state-of-the-art molecular techniques to advance basic knowledge of the pathogenesis of several important causes of renal disease including autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, diabetic nephropathy, HIV-associated nephropathy, and renal transplant rejection. This research is undertaken using a multidisciplinary approach, bringing together “cutting edge” molecular biologists and clinicians to optimize the translation of basic science into therapeutic advances that ultimately will improve the lives of our patients.

Concomitant with our efforts to understand the molecular basis of disease processes, are studies to develop approaches for delivery of molecular therapies to the kidney. These studies include development of lentiviral constructs for gene delivery to kidneys and investigation of the mechanism of antisense nucleic acids transport across the renal tubule apical membrane.