Education

PhD, University of Warwick, 2006

Lab information

Claire Hills Lab

Research focus

In collaboration with Professor Squires we are interested in several aspect of glucose and TGF-beta induced renal damage in diabetes. Almost one third of all patients with diabetes progressively develop diabetic nephropathy (DN) within 10-to-30 years of the onset of disease and DN accounts for almost a quarter of those entering end-stage renal replacement programs in the UK. However, we still lack a basic understanding of this debilitating condition. Current dogma implicates the cytokine transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta;) as the predominant mediator of tubulointerstitial fibrosis, the common final pathway in DN and end-stage renal disease. Understanding the mechanism by which TGF-beta instigates phenotypic and morphological changes is essential in establishing novel therapeutic strategies for the prevention or arrest of the disease. Our studies aim to elucidate how the injured environment disrupts cell-adhesion, cell-cell communication and renal function in both diabetic nephropathy and chronic kidney disease with a view to identify new therapeutic targets. The work is funded by Diabetes UK, the EFSD, DRWF, the Physiological Society and the Royal Society.

Publications