Daehn Lab
Principal Investigator: Ilse Sofia Daehn
Institution: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York, NY)
Primary Subfield: Genetics/Genomics
Recruitment Status: ✅ Hiring Postdocs
Research Focus
Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the leading cause of end-stage kidney failure in the USA and is increasing in prevalence at an alarming rate worldwide with no targeted therapy available. The pathogenesis of DKD is complex, influenced by genetics and the environment. The underlying genetic susceptibilities to DKD remain poorly understood. To investigate the genetic basis of DKD, we studied diabetes-induced podocyte depletion associated with DKD susceptibility in inbred DBA/2J mice and C57BL/6J mice, well established mouse models for DKD susceptibility and resistance, respectively. We also examined the BXD recombinant inbred panel to map genetic loci (QTL) associated with podocyte number after long-term diabetes (6 months). These studies identified a genome wide significant cis-acting regulatory region for the Xor gene encoding xanthine oxidoreductase (Xdh+XO) and an important source for ROS production in diabetes. Our data show Xor expression and activity was strongly increased by diabetes in glomeruli of DBA/2J, but not C57BL/6J resistant mice. A functional role for Xor was confirmed by a significant amelioration of albuminuria, endothelial cell mtDNA oxidative stress damage and p…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R01DK139395-03: Genetic risk and molecular characterization of Diabetic Kidney Disease (2026)
- 2R01DK097253-11: Glomerular Cell-Cell Crosstalk and Injury (2025)
- 5R01DK139395-02: Genetic risk and molecular characterization of Diabetic Kidney Disease (2025)
- 1R01DK139395-01: Genetic risk and molecular characterization of Diabetic Kidney Disease (2024)
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