The effect of maternal nutrition on kidney development 

In World War II, a small proportion of the Dutch population was exposed to a period of famine for a few months, known as the “Dutch Hunger Winter”. Epidemiological studies found a high rate of kidney disease in their offspring at adulthood as well as in other populations with malnutrition during pregnancy.

 

In collaboration with Prof. Raphael Kopan's Lab in Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and with a support of the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation we aim to study the mechanisms in which nutritional status of the mother during pregnancy affects the kidney development of the embryo.