Kidney research is both intriguing and important. On the one hand, the kidney is highly complex and only partially understood . On the other hand, kidney diseases are very common, resulting in much morbidity and mortality. These include chronic kidney disease (CKD), which affects 15% of the population and is cureless, and renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the most common renal cancer, which kills ~185,000 people a year worldwide.

Our main goal is to uncover new aspects in the basic biology of the kidney and new molecular mechanisms underlying kidney disease. However, we also focus on translational aspects and work hard to leverage our discoveries into new diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic approaches. As a hospital-based lab, with a team that also includes physicians, we have the unique advantage of having all the expertise needed to truly implement a bench-to-bedside and backwards approach.

To achieve these goals, we use a wide range of methodologies and research areas, including stem cell biology, large-scale 'omics' analyses (mainly at the transcriptional and epigenetic levels), 3D culture methods and animal models.