Research Group Broeker

The kidney consists of three functionally complementary cell compartments: the vascular-glomerular compartment, which is responsible for blood conduction and filtration, the tubular compartment, which fulfils excretory and homeostatic transport functions, and the interstitial compartment.

The interstitial compartment comprises resident and migrating cells. The different cell types of the interstitium fulfil support, nutritional, defence, regulatory and endocrine functions. The focus of our research is the investigation of resident interstitial cells with regard to development, plasticity and function. One aspect of our work focuses on the endocrine and paracrine functions of such cells, which can produce renin, erythropoietin and prostanoids in a subtype-specific manner.

Another aspect is the role of resident interstitial cells in the control of renal function both in the normal state and in stress states of the kidney, such as salt deficiency and salt excess.

Finally, we are also interested in the role of resident interstitial cells in pathological situations such as interstitial renal fibrosis or interstitial renal inflammation.