Category: faculty

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Recognizing Faculty Leadership and Excellence

The Department of Bioengineering is proud to recognize several faculty members whose recent appointments, promotions, tenure, and named professorships reflect their outstanding contributions to research, education, mentorship, and leadership.

These milestones celebrate individual excellence while reflecting the continued strength and momentum of our faculty community. Through pioneering research, transformative teaching, and collaborative leadership, these faculty members are helping shape the future of bioengineering at Penn and beyond.

Dongeun Dan Huh

Designated the J. Peter Skirkanich Professor in Bioengineering and appointed Director of the Bioengineering Graduate Group

An internationally recognized pioneer in organ-on-a-chip technology, Huh has helped transform how researchers model human physiology in the laboratory through organ-on-a-chip technologies. His research integrates microengineering, biomaterials, and cell biology to develop microphysiological systems that recreate the complexity of human organs, accelerating drug discovery, disease modeling, and precision medicine. In his new role as Director of the Bioengineering Graduate Group, Huh will help shape the next generation of graduate scholars while continuing to expand the department’s leadership in translational bioengineering. His designation as the J. Peter Skirkanich Professor recognizes both his groundbreaking scholarship and his growing leadership within the Penn community.

Andrew Tsourkas

Designated the Eduardo D. Glandt President’s Distinguished Professor in Bioengineering

Tsourkas has established a leading research program focused on molecular imaging, targeted therapeutics, and nanomedicine. His laboratory develops innovative imaging agents and nanoscale technologies designed to detect disease earlier and improve the precision of treatment, particularly for cancer. By combining engineering, chemistry, and medicine, his work exemplifies the interdisciplinary approach that defines Bioengineering at Penn. His designation as the Eduardo D. Glandt President’s Distinguished Professor recognizes decades of scientific innovation, mentorship, and contributions to advancing biomedical engineering.

Mike Mitchell

Designated the Hibbert Professor and Promoted to Professor in Bioengineering

Mitchell has emerged as one of the leading innovators in genetic medicine and drug delivery. His laboratory engineers lipid nanoparticles and biomaterials that enable the safe and effective delivery of RNA- and DNA-based therapeutics, advancing new treatments for cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases. By translating fundamental engineering discoveries into technologies with clinical potential, Mitchell’s work continues to shape the future of precision medicine. His appointment as the Hibbert Professor and promotion to Professor recognize both his exceptional research accomplishments and his leadership in one of the most rapidly advancing areas of biomedical engineering.

Lukasz Bugaj

Promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure in Bioengineering

Bugaj’s research seeks to understand how cells process information and make decisions, combining insights from natural biological systems with synthetic biology approaches. His laboratory engineers cellular signaling networks to uncover the principles governing communication within and between cells, opening new possibilities for regenerative medicine, immunotherapy, and programmable cell-based therapies. Promotion with tenure recognizes not only his innovative research program but also his growing impact as a teacher, mentor, and leader within the department.

Brit Shields

Promoted to Practice Associate Professor in Bioengineering

Brit Shields has been promoted to Practice Associate Professor in recognition of her leadership in engineering ethics education and interdisciplinary teaching. Her work explores the intersection of engineering, ethics, and the history of science, examining how scientific communities, engineering, and society shape one another. As the leader of Penn Engineering’s Engineering Ethics Initiative, she has helped embed ethics throughout the engineering curriculum, preparing students to thoughtfully address the societal implications of emerging technologies while strengthening their technical education.

LeAnn Dourte

Promoted to Practice Professor in Bioengineering

LeAnn Dourte has been promoted to Practice Professor in recognition of her leadership in engineering education, curriculum innovation, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Her work focuses on evidence-based approaches to engineering education, including Structured Active In-Class Learning (SAIL), an instructional model that strengthens student engagement and problem-solving. As Bioengineering Curriculum Chair and Faculty Director for Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accreditation, Dourte has helped shape the department’s curriculum while advancing innovative approaches that prepare future bioengineers to solve complex challenges.

Katherine E. Reuther

Promoted to Practice Professor in Bioengineering

Katherine Reuther has been promoted to Practice Professor in recognition of her leadership in healthcare innovation, entrepreneurship, and translational engineering education. Through her work at Penn Health-Tech, Reuther connects researchers, clinicians, students, and industry partners to accelerate the development of medical devices and healthcare technologies. She has developed experiential programs that teach students how to identify unmet clinical needs, translate discoveries into real-world solutions, and navigate the path from research to commercialization. Her work is helping prepare the next generation of bioengineers to transform innovative ideas into technologies that improve patient care.

Zhiliang Cheng

Promoted to Professor in the Research Track in Bioengineering

Cheng’s research advances molecular imaging technologies that improve disease detection, diagnosis, and therapeutic monitoring. His laboratory develops novel imaging probes and translational imaging technologies that bridge engineering innovation with clinical application, helping move promising technologies from the laboratory toward patient care. As a Research Professor, Cheng has built an internationally recognized program that strengthens Bioengineering’s impact across imaging science, precision diagnostics, and translational medicine. His promotion recognizes the significance and continued growth of his research contributions.

Riccardo Gottardi

Promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure in Pediatrics with a Secondary Appointment in Bioengineering

Riccardo Gottardi, who holds a primary appointment in Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine and a secondary appointment in Bioengineering, has been awarded tenure. He founded and is leading the Gottardi Bioengineering and Biomaterials Lab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His research explores how cells, tissues, and the mechanical environments that surround them interact to influence health, disease, and regeneration. His laboratory combines tissue engineering, mechanobiology, and regenerative medicine to better understand musculoskeletal development and develop new strategies for tissue repair. By integrating engineering with fundamental biology, his work is expanding knowledge that could improve treatments for degenerative diseases and injuries. The awarding of tenure recognizes his accomplishments as a scholar, educator, and valued member of the Bioengineering faculty.

Looking Ahead

These appointments, promotions, and tenure decisions represent important milestones in the careers of exceptional faculty members while underscoring the Department of Bioengineering’s continued investment in excellence across research, education, and leadership. Together, these faculty are advancing discovery, mentoring future innovators, and strengthening Penn’s leadership in bioengineering.

As they continue advancing discovery, educating future engineers, and strengthening collaborations across disciplines, we congratulate these faculty members on these well-deserved recognitions and look forward to the impact they will continue to make at Penn and beyond.

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What Makes a Discovery Matter?

A brilliant idea is just the beginning.

But between the lab bench and the lives it could change, there’s often a wide and uncertain gap. Bridging that space takes more than good data, it takes a story that resonates beyond the research community.

That’s what Practice Associate Professor Katie Reuther, PhD, MBA (Department of Bioengineering and Center for Health, Devices and Technology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA), challenges academic researchers to embrace in her new Nature Biotechnology article, co-authored with Darren Cooke (University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley,) and Mark Kessel (Consultant, New York, NY).At its core, the piece isn’t just about pitch decks. It’s about showing the world, clearly and credibly, why your science matters now.

Question: What’s at stake when researchers don’t learn to communicate the value of their science early on? What do we risk missing out on and who do we fail to reach?

Dr. Reuther: When researchers do not learn to effectively communicate the value of their work, the primary risk is that groundbreaking innovations with potential to impact patients may remain confined in academia.  Effective science communication helps build trust and credibility by making complex science accessible to a wide audience, such as investors, partners, and the public, enabling them to see its potential impact. These elements are a critical starting point for eventually securing the necessary financial resources and support to navigate the expensive, long, and risky path from the lab bench to the market. While strong communication won’t guarantee investment or make a bad idea viable, without it, the conversation won’t even begin.

The article outlines the mechanics of building a compelling life sciences pitch. But the bigger message is clear: the future of translational research depends not only on what you discover, but on how effectively you can make others care.

Question: What do you see as the biggest disconnect between the way academics communicate their research and what’s needed to mobilize real-world support?

Dr. Reuther: Academics and scientists are trained in communicating their research findings to scientific experts. While this is critically important, what’s needed to mobilize support from investors and other partners who can help make these ideas a reality is different. It relies not only on the demonstration of technical achievements but also the communication of the real-world impact and value of the work. While it may seem intuitive, researchers often overlook the need to clearly define the problem they are solving and to articulate a compelling value proposition that differentiates their idea from the status quo. Investors and partners are focused on future commercial value, not complex scientific findings. I do believe that academics can learn how to communicate the business viability of their work and we have proven this in our own work at Penn Health-Tech.

From IP strategy to reimbursement pathways to articulating a problem that truly demands a solution, Reuther and her co-authors give researchers the scaffolding to build a narrative investors, partners—and ultimately, patients—can believe in.

And in a field where even the most impactful technologies can falter in the shadows, being able to clearly tell the story of why your work matters is no longer optional. It is now a necessity.

Question: Do you think academic training does enough to prepare scientists to communicate the real-world value of their work? What needs to change?

Dr. Reuther: As we’ve discussed, most academic training is heavily focused on communicating research findings to scientific experts. However, over the past several years, greater attention on business communication has been given due to the expectation that federally-funded academic innovations should eventually translate into real-world impact. Many universities (including Penn) and federal agencies (including the NIH and NSF) have fostered educational programs to help researchers learn about business fundamentals and articulate and validate their work’s potential value. We need to continue to push to increase awareness of these programs and make them accessible to those who need it.

Read the article:
Reuther, K.E., Cooke, D. & Kessel, M. Innovation to investment: how to build your first life sciences pitch deck. Nat Biotechnol 43, 1204–1207 (2025).
🔗 Read here

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Engineering a Healthier Heart: Noor Momin Receives AHA Transformational Project Award

When someone survives a heart attack, the battle isn’t always over. In fact, nearly one-third of survivors go on to develop heart failure—a progressive weakening of the heart muscle that affects millions and contributes to roughly 500,000 deaths in the U.S. each year.

Dr. Noor Momin, the Stephenson Foundation Term Assistant Professor of Innovation in Bioengineering at Penn, is working to change that. Her lab’s innovative approach to immune modulation after heart attacks has just been recognized with the prestigious American Heart Association (AHA) Transformational Project Award for 2025. This award supports groundbreaking ideas that hold the potential to significantlya dvance cardiovascular and cerebrovascular research. (See award criteria.)

(Photo Credit: Mark Griffey, Penn Engineering)

A Targeted Strategy to Prevent Heart Failure

Following a heart attack, the immune system springs into action to repair damaged tissue. But when that response lingers or becomes excessive, it can cause additional harm—like a repair crew overstaying its welcome and inadvertently worsening the damage.

Momin’s lab is developing a targeted strategy using cytokines to control this immune response. Cytokines are used by immune cells to communicate with each other and other cells. Instead of delivering just a cytokine, which can lead to harmful side effects in healthy tissues, they’ve re-engineered it to home to damaged heart tissue. Early preclinical tests have shown that this approach can prevent heart failure with minimal side effects. 

The lab is now focused on conducting further dose and treatment schedule optimization, safety and mechanistic studies to move the technology towards clinical translation.

This line of research could lead to a fundamentally new way to prevent heart failure in heart attack survivors, directly supporting the American Heart Association’s mission to help people live longer, healthier lives.

From Seed to Solution: The Role of CPE4H

This transformative research began with a spark: seed funding from the Penn Center for Precision Engineering for Health (CPE4H).

“The seed grant was crucial for getting our project off the ground right after we moved to One uCity in the summer of 2024,” Momin explains. “Having those funds immediately available allowed us to start research without delay and maintain momentum in gathering preliminary data. This work directly led to securing AHA funding in under a year – which is exceptionally fast for translational research. The seed grant essentially jump started everything. We’re really grateful for that support.”

That rapid trajectory is exactly what the CPE4H aims to support.

“Noor’s success with the American Heart Association proposal is very exciting to me and the center,” says Daniel A. Hammer, Inaugural Director of CPE4H and the Alfred G. and Meta A. Ennis Professor for Bioengineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. “Noor’s work embodies the principles of the CPE4H – using engineering principles to develop therapies that have real consequences for human health, in this case cardiovascular disease. In addition, it’s particularly gratifying that we can support and initiate funding for an Assistant Professor who is at the early stages of her career.”

Engineering Innovation, Saving Lives

As Dr. Momin’s project progresses, it offers a glimpse into a future where heart attack survivors have better tools to prevent the onset of heart failure—tools born from innovative thinking and catalyzed by early support.

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Engineering a Healthier Future: Kelsey Swingle’s Journey from Penn to Rice

Precision medicine. Women’s health. RNA therapeutics. Kelsey Swingle’s next chapter advances science that can’t wait.

On July 1, Kelsey Swingle, Ph.D., officially joined Rice University as an Assistant Professor in Bioengineering, a remarkable leap directly from doctoral training to a tenure track faculty position. She’s not just launching a lab, she’s continuing a mission shaped at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Precision Engineering for Health (CPE4H).

The new paper’s lead author Kelsey Swingle (GrEng’27) at work in the lab. (Credit: Kevin Monko)

At CPE4H Swingle’s research pioneered new ways to deliver mRNA therapeutics using lipid nanoparticles, with applications that go as far as treating deadly pregnancy complications like pre-eclampsia.

“Kelsey’s unique application is to use these technologies to treat specific diseases, such as to target the placenta during pregnancy,” said Daniel A. Hammer, Inaugural Director of CPE4H. “Her work is a wonderful combination of precise molecular delivery applied to a real problem in human health.”

In a world where reproductive health remains chronically underfunded and underserved, Swingle’s research targets a profound gap. Her innovations hold promise for early intervention in pregnancy disorders, pushing the boundaries of what medicine can treat and when.

Kelsey was trained in Michael Mitchell’s lab at Penn Bioengineering.

“Mike has continuously guided and supported me, and gave me the unique opportunity to launch a new research area in the Mitchell Lab focused on women’s health,” Swingle said.

But her impact extended far beyond science. Swingle played a pivotal role in Penn’s translational research community, through platforms like the CPE4H Focus Friday seminars and cross-lab collaboration in the UCity space, environments designed to accelerate innovation at the intersection of engineering and medicine.

“I’ve found that one of the biggest challenges during graduate school is the opportunity to wear multiple hats—as a student, researcher, scientist, mentee, mentor, friend, and role model—which can feel really overwhelming and daunting, especially in the beginning. I clearly remember sharing these feelings with Mike during the second year of my Ph.D., and he encouraged me to focus on executing good science and being a team player, and to have confidence everything else would work itself out,” Swigle shared. “Now that I’ve accepted a faculty position, everything has worked out even better than I could have anticipated.”

“Kelsey is the complete scholar. She is extremely hard working and creative in her research, and is always looking for new areas to grow and challenge herself. But she is also an incredible teacher and mentor of the next generation. It is rare to start an independent faculty position right after completing a PhD, but Kelsey is absolutely ready for it and will hit the ground running,” observed Michael Mitchell, Associate Professor for Penn Bioengineering.

Research team from left to right includes Kelsey Swingle, Hannah Safford, Alex Hamilton, Ajay Thatte, Hannah Geisler, and Mike Mitchell. (Credit: Penn Engineering)

Now, at Rice, Swingle will launch the Swingle Lab, carrying forward a research agenda that sits at the interface of biomaterials, immune engineering, and reproductive biology. The stakes? Future therapies for complex and under-treated conditions — with global impact.

“I’m a big believer that cutting-edge research takes a team of great people that are eager to work together,” Swingle said. “I’m excited to explore opportunities to collaborate and learn from everyone in Rice Bioengineering and the broader scientific community at the Texas Medical Center in Houston.”

For Penn, Swingle’s story reaffirms its mission to train the next generation of engineers not only to innovate, but to lead.

“Because Kelsey will, in turn, train students and postdoctoral associates in her own laboratory, her career has an important, multiplicative effect on the influence of the center broadly across the scientific community,” Hammer emphasized.

“Kelsey has done an incredible job here at Penn Bioengineering, CPE4H, and the Mitchell Lab. I’m very hopeful that her faculty position at top-10 ranked Rice Bioengineering will enable her to make important contributions to the fields of drug delivery and women’s health, ” shared Mitchell.

Kelsey Swingle is more than a rising star. She’s a catalyst, proving what happens when the right minds are given the creative freedom, mentorship, and mission to engineer a more equitable and personalized future for healthcare.

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Penn Engineers Turn Toxic Fungus into Anti-Cancer Drug

by Ian Scheffler

First author Qiuyue Nie and coauthor Maria Zotova, from left, purify samples of the fungus. (Credit: Bella Ciervo)

Penn-led researchers have turned a deadly fungus into a potent cancer-fighting compound. After isolating a new class of molecules from Aspergillus flavus, a toxic crop fungus linked to deaths in the excavations of ancient tombs, the researchers modified the chemicals and tested them against leukemia cells. The result? A promising cancer-killing compound that rivals FDA-approved drugs and opens up new frontiers in the discovery of more fungal medicines.

“Fungi gave us penicillin,” says Sherry Gao, Presidential Penn Compact Associate Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) and in Bioengineering (BE) and senior author of a new paper in Nature Chemical Biology on the findings. “These results show that many more medicines derived from natural products remain to be found.”

From Curse to Cure

A. flavus, named for its yellow spores, has long been a microbial villain. After archaeologists opened King Tutankhamun’s tomb in the 1920s, a series of untimely deaths among the excavation team fueled rumors of a pharaoh’s curse. Decades later, doctors theorized that fungal spores, dormant for millennia, could have played a role.

A sample of Aspergillus flavus cultured in the Gao Lab. (Credit: Bella Ciervo)

In the 1970s, a dozen scientists entered the tomb of Casimir IV in Poland. Within weeks, 10 of them died. Later investigations revealed the tomb contained A. flavus, whose toxins can lead to lung infections, especially in people with compromised immune systems.

Now, that same fungus is the unlikely source of a promising new cancer therapy.

Read the full story in Penn Engineering Today.

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Researchers crack the code of body’s ancient immune defense

by Nathi Magubane & Ian Scheffler

(Left) Pre-ignition (below the activation threshold) Only a handful of immune “tags” (C3b proteins) cover the nanoparticle, so it barely sticks to the white membrane—too few contact points means the immune cell simply can’t grab on. (Right) Post-ignition (above the activation threshold). The nanoparticle is now densely coated with C3b tags, and the immune-cell membrane reaches out with many matching receptors. Dozens of little “hooks” latch on at once, creating a strong, multivalent grip that pulls the particle in for engulfment.(Image: Ravi Radhakrishnan)

How does your body distinguish friendly visitors, like medications and medical devices, from dangerous invaders such as viruses and other infectious agents? The answer lies in a protein network dating back half a billion years—before humans diverged from sea urchins, notes Jake Brenner, a physician-scientist at the University of Pennsylvania.

“The complement system is perhaps the oldest-known part of our extracellular immune system,” says Brenner. “It plays a crucial role in identifying foreign materials like microbes, medical devices, or new drugs—particularly the larger ones like in the COVID vaccine.”

The complement system can, however, simultaneously play friend and foe, offering protection with one hand while backhanding the body with the other. In some cases, this ancient network can significantly exacerbate conditions like stroke by targeting the body’s own tissues. As Brenner explains, leaking blood vessels allow complement proteins to target brain tissue, causing the immune system to mistakenly launch an attack on the body’s own cells and worsen patient outcomes.

Now, using a combination of wet-lab experimentation, coupled differential equations, and computational-based modeling and simulations, an interdisciplinary team from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Perelman School of Medicine has decrypted the mathematical language behind the complement network’s “decision” to attack.

Reporting their findings in Cell, the team identifies a molecular tipping point known as the critical percolation threshold, which is based on how densely complement-binding sites are spaced on the surfaces of the model invader they engineered. If spacing between binding sites is too wide—landing above a threshold—complement activation fizzles out; below it, complement network ignites, a chain reaction of immune agent recruitment which spreads like wildfire.

Read the full story in Penn Today.

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Optogenetic Functional Profiling Indicates New Mechanisms of Drug Tolerance in Cancer Cells

While modern cancer treatments can have tremendous therapeutic impact, formidable obstacles remain. Foremost among these is drug resistance, the ability of cancers to withstand and ultimately progress despite the presence of an anti-cancer drug. However, ongoing research provides hope that these challenges can be overcome, including recent work performed by Penn Engineers.

The lab of Lukasz J. Bugaj, Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, recently published an article that uncovers new mechanisms of how oncogenes interact  with important pathways of cellular signaling that are associated with resistance. This work, titled “Oncogenic EML4-ALK Assemblies Suppress Growth Factor Perception and Modulate Drug Tolerance,” applied a new technique called ‘optogenetic functional profiling’ that allowed measurement of how important molecular signaling pathways respond to precise perturbations applied by the researchers.  By applying this technique to many different cell types, the group found important differences in resistance-associated signaling between cancer cells and healthy cells 

Specifically, the research showed that an oncogene called EML4-ALK, which activates oncogenic signaling, simultaneously inactivates adjacent pathways that can cause resistance.  As a consequence, once an oncogene-blocking drug is applied, the inactivation is relieved, thus boosting activity through these adjacent, resistance-associated pathways.  The study also showed that these pathways were not only de-repressed, but were actively stimulated by neighboring cancer cells, further enhancing cell survival in the presence of the drug. 

“Our work shows that oncogenes, while driving cell division in cancer cells, simultaneously suppress the cells’ regulation by their environment,” said Dr. Bugaj. “While the work reveals mechanisms of paradoxical responses to drug treatment related to resistance, they may also inspire new ideas for therapies that can more efficiently kill cancer cells while maintaining suppression of resistance signaling. This work was co-led by PhD student David Gonzalez-Martinez and by Lee Roth, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow, and was supported by a grant from the American Cancer Society. 

Dr. Bugaj’s article can be read here.

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Loebel Lab Arrives in 2025

Reliance Industries Term Assistant Professor Claudia Loebel will establish her lab at The University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Bioengineering and the Center for Precision Engineering for Health in January 2025.

Dr. Loebel received her MD from Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg, Germany and her Ph.D from ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

“My laboratory is developing testable models to investigate how extracellular signals regulate cellular function to direct the development and regeneration of organs, ultimately leading to more effective therapeutic treatments,” said Dr. Loebel in her research statement. “Building upon my K99/R00 and American Lung Association Innovation Awards, a major focus of my group has been on understanding the role of mechanical forces across various states of pulmonary development and regeneration.”

Dr. Loebel’s team is formed with an exciting combination of interdisciplinary scholars including postdoctoral associates, graduate and undergraduate students whose philosophy encourages respect for people’s differences, acknowledging and honoring religious and cultural practices, and foster diverse thinking. Dr. Loebel is also a recent recipient of the 2025 Rising Star Award from BMES CMBE, and also won the CMBE Young Innovators award for her published article, “Magnetoactive, Kirigami- Inspired Hammoks to Probe Lung Epithelial Cell Function.”

The Loebel Lab is funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship, whose mission is dedicated to further the advancement of people and communities with their three overreaching and interdependent goals: building societies, protecting and restoring the natural world, and investing in families.

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New Class of Encrypted Peptides Offer Hope in Fight Against Antibiotic Resistance

by Eric Horvath

Cesar de la Fuente, Presidential Assistant Professor with appointments in the Perelman School of Medicine, School of Engineering and School of Arts & Sciences (Image: Eric Sucar)

In a significant advance against the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, researchers have identified a novel class of antimicrobial agents known as encrypted peptides, which may expand the immune system’s arsenal of tools to fight infection. The findings, published in Trends in Biotechnology by Cell Press, reveal that many antimicrobial molecules originate from proteins not traditionally associated with immune responses.

Unlike conventional antibiotics that target specific bacterial processes, these newly discovered peptides disrupt the protective membranes surrounding bacterial cells. By inserting themselves into these membranes—much like breaching a fortress wall—the peptides destabilize and ultimately destroy the bacteria.

“Our findings suggest that these previously overlooked molecules could be key players in the immune system’s response to infection,” says César de la Fuente, presidential assistant professor in bioengineering and in chemical and biomolecular engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, in psychiatry and microbiology in the Perelman School of Medicine, and in chemistry in the School of Arts & Sciences, who led the research team. “This may not only redefine how we understand immunity but also opens up new possibilities for treating drug-resistant infections.”

Read the full story in Penn Medicine News.

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Developing Kidneys from Scratch: Alex Hughes Tackles the Tremendous Burden of Kidney Disease

by Ian Scheffler

Alex Hughes, Assistant Professor in Bioengineering, holds a model of a developing kidney. (Credit: Bella Ciervo)

To Alex Hughes, Assistant Professor in Bioengineering within Penn Engineering and in Cell and Developmental Biology within Penn Medicine, the kidney is a work of art. “I find the development of the kidney to be a really beautiful process,” says Hughes.

Most people only ever see the organ in cross-section, through textbooks or by dissecting animal kidneys in high school biology class: a bean-shaped slice with lots of tiny tubes. “I think that really undersells how amazing the structure is,” says Hughes, who points out that kidneys grow in utero like forests of pipes, branching exponentially.

Densely packed with tubules clustered in units known as nephrons, kidneys cleanse the blood, maintaining the body’s fluid and electrolyte balance, while also regulating blood pressure. The organ played a crucial role in vertebrates emerging from the ocean: as one paper puts it, kidneys preserve the primordial ocean in all of us.

Unfortunately, kidneys struggle in the modern world. Excessively salty food, being overweight, not exercising enough, drinking too much and smoking can all raise blood pressure, which damages the kidney’s tiny blood vessels, as does diabetes.

In some cases, damage to the kidney’s nephrons can be slowed with lifestyle changes, but, unlike the liver, bones and skin, which can regrow damaged tissue, kidneys have a limited capacity to regenerate. At present, without a transplant, the nephrons we have at birth must last a lifetime.

Read the full story in Penn Engineering Today.