Kidney Disease Center

Ashraf El-Meanawy, Ph.D., M.D. Assistant Professor, Medicine (Nephrology) Education: School of Medicine, Cairo U, Cairo, Egypt, M.B., B. Ch, School of Medicine, Cairo U, Cairo, Egypt, M. S.School of Medicine, Cairo U, Cairo, Egypt, Ph.D. Postdoctoral, MetroHealth, CRRU, Cleveland, OH, Resident.

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Link to Nephrology     NIH BIOSKETCH

The El-Meanawy Lab

My laboratory is studying the genetic factors contributing to the development of a vulnerable kidney. We are focused on understanding the genes and pathways responsible for reduction in the number of the filtration units "the Nephron" at birth. Subjects borne with such reduced nephron number are at risk for developing hypertension and chronic kidney disease later in life. The production of a kidney with a reduced number of nephrons could be the result of genetic
defect(s) and/or exposure to environmental factors during pregnancy which alters kidney development. Extreme infant prematurity and very low birth weight infants are at high risk for nephron number reduction. Understanding such pathways and gene functions will help us develop diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. We use multiple approaches including animal models, molecular genetics, cell culture, and organ culture.