Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio 374

In Germany, more than 5 million patients suffer from chronic kidney disease - most of them without realising it - and around 100,000 people require renal replacement therapy in the form of dialysis or transplantation. The kidneys use a two-stage principle for their detoxification and excretion function: first, a large amount of filtrate is formed from the blood plasma and then largely reabsorbed and modified in a channel system (tubules). Until now, research into kidney diseases has focussed primarily on the filtration process. The function of the tubules and the surrounding tissue (tubulointerstitium) has hardly been investigated, despite its great relevance to the disease, as the interactions taking place there are extremely complex and difficult to address methodologically.

In the Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio TRR374 REN^PRO, an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Regensburg and the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg have joined forces to investigate these complex processes and signalling pathways of the tubulointerstitium. The team of researchers combines basic renal research, clinical research, state-of-the-art technologies and data science. We see ourselves in an ideal position to shape modern kidney research together with national and international partners, to train the kidney researchers and kidney doctors of the future and to develop customised diagnostics and therapies for kidney patients.