From bulky telephones, fax machines, cameras and radios to a smartphone that contains it all: technological advancements have revolutionized many aspects of our lives in the past fifty years. For kidney patients, however, life has remained the same in one major aspect: the dialysis treatment that they rely on for their survival. It’s time for this to change, as the growing prevalence of chronic kidney disease poses a heavy burden on patients’ lives, and, at €90K per patient per year, also a financial stress on an already straining European healthcare system.
EU funds consortium for technology towards the development of an artificial kidney
UMCU developed technology to grow adult stem cell (ASC)-derived kidney tubule organoids (tubuloids) from human kidney tissue or urine, shown here with markers of proximul tubule (f) and collecting duct (g, h). ASC-derived kidney tubule epithelial cells from organoids may be used for the tubular exchange unit.
(f) UMCU developed technology to grow adult stem cell (ASC)-derived kidney tubule organoids (tubuloids) from human kidney tissue or urine, shown here with markers of proximul tubule
and collecting duct (g, h)
(h)