DescriptionThe McCracken Lab investigates kidney development using human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), organoids, and mouse models. The goals of the laboratory include the elucidation of basic embryologic mechanisms, the application of in vitro models to understanding human kidney development and congenital defects, and engineering of complex tissue models for kidney regenerative medicine.Given the enormous need in kidney biology and nephrology for novel experimental models and regenerative approaches, the McCracken Lab develops strategies to derive kidney tissues from hPSCs, with a particular interest in the developing collecting system. Recent work enabled the differentiation of branching epithelial organoids, which the lab uses to understand how the collecting s