Research Summary:

My research attempts to discover new mechanisms and biomarkers for progressive organ fibrosis using the kidney as a model system. Our focus is on the identification of crosstalk between signaling cascades including TGF-beta and Growth Hormone signaling and on the role of small non-coding RNAs in this process. We are applying models of acute and chronic kidney injury to mutant and transgenic mice and rats and use cell culture systems for further analysis.

Link to PubMed Citations

Selected Publications:

Siroky BJ, Bitzer M. The Growing Importance of mTORC1-S6K1 Signaling in Kidney. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2009 Jul 1.

Ju W, Eichinger F, Bitzer M, Oh J, McWeeney S, Berthier CC, Shedden K, Cohen CD, Henger A, Krick S, Kopp JB, Stoeckert CJ Jr, Dikman S, Schröppel B, Thomas DB, Schlondorff D, Kretzler M, Böttinger EP. Renal gene and protein expression signatures for prediction of kidney disease progression. Am J Pathol. 2009 Jun;174(6):2073-85.

Zhou L, Nguyen AN, Sohal D, Ma JY, Pahanish P, Gundabolu K, Hayman J, Chubak A, Mo Y, Bhagat T, Das B, Haghnazari E , Navas TA, Parmar S, Kambhampati S, Pellagati A, Braunchweig I, Zhang Y, Wickrema A, Boultwood J, Platanias L, Higgins LS, List AA, Bitzer M, Verma A. Inhibition of the TGF-beta receptor I kinase promotes hematopoiesis, Blood. 2008 May 12. [Epub ahead of print]

Susztak K, Bitzer M, Meyer TW, Hostetter TH. Animal Models of Renal Disease. Kidney Int. 2008 Mar;73(5):526-8.

Wu DT, Bitzer M, Ju W, Mundel P, Bottinger EP. TGF-beta Concentration Specifies Differential Signaling Profiles of Growth Arrest/Differentiation and Apoptosis in Podocytes. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2005 Nov;16(11):3211-21. Epub 2005 Oct 5