Michigan kidney
translational medicine Center
Latest Publications
Data Mining Tools for the Kidney Research Community
Explore Transcriptomic
Data with Nephroseq
Nephroseq is a free platform to the academic and non-profit community for integrative data mining of genotype/phenotype data that we have curated from the public domain.
Explore Single-cell
RNA-Seq Data with Nephrocell
Nephrocell is a web application for querying gene expression levels across our collection of human kidney and human kidney organoid single-cell datasets.

Explore the KPMP Kidney Tissue Atlas
The Kidney Tissue Atlas is a web-based research data platform. It is built upon the clinical, molecular, and pathology data generated from participant renal biopsies using next-generation -omics technologies.
Cohorts
We are proud to partner with the world's leading Kidney Research consortia







About
Our Goal
The overarching goal of our research efforts is to define chronic organ dysfunction in mechanistic terms and use this knowledge for targeted therapeutic interventions. To reach this goal we have developed a translational research pipeline centered on integrated systems biology analysis of renal disease.

Our Team
We are an international research team from three continents and covering five disciplines, supporting all elements of the translational research pipeline from enrolling study participants to developing new therapies. Our team integrates information from a wide spectrum of human cohort studies we have initiated or with which we are intimately involved.
Methods
In these prospective cohort studies, we test the precision medicine concept for renal disease by integrating information along the genotype-phenotype continuum using carefully monitored environmental exposures, genetic predispositions, epigenetic markers, transcriptional networks, proteomic profiles, metabolic fingerprints, digital histological biopsy archive, and prospective clinical disease characterization.
Our interdisciplinary research team integrates information from a wide spectrum of human cohort studies we have initiated or are intimately involved with.
Our Team
Principal Investigator

Matthias Kretzler, MD
Professor of Internal Medicine Research Professor, DCMB
Dr. Kretzler is the Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor of Internal Medicine/Nephrology and Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics. The overarching goal of his research is to define chronic organ dysfunction in mechanistic terms and use this knowledge for targeted therapeutic interventions. To reach this goal he has developed a translational research pipeline centered on integrated systems biology analysis of renal disease.
He leads the U54 Nephrotic Syndrome Research Network (Neptune) in the Rare Disease Clinical Research Network II, is a Principle Investigator (PI) of the Coordinating center of the CureGN research network, the Director of the Applied Systems Biology Core, PI in the R24 “Integrated Systems Biology Approach to Diabetic Microvascular Complications” and site PI in the NIH Acceleration of Medicine (AMP) program in lupus.
He has 20 years of experience in integration of bioinformatics, molecular and clinical approaches in more than 210 publications. He has a track record on interdisciplinary data integration of large-scale data sets in international multi-disciplinary research networks in the US, Europe, China and sub-Saharan Africa. These studies enable precision medicine across the genotype-phenotype continuum using carefully monitored environmental exposures, genetic predispositions, epigenetic markers, transcriptional networks, proteomic profiles, metabolic fingerprints, digital histological biopsy archive and prospective clinical disease characterization. The molecular mechanism identified have result in new disease predictors and successful phase II trial of a novel therapeutic modality in diabetic kidney disease.
Matthias Kretzler was born in Bruchsal, Germany close to Heidelberg (and France). He received his medical training at the University of Heidelberg, Germany; Newcastle upon the Tyne in the U.K.; and at the University of Michigan.
Taking full advantage of Germany’s medical training system, Matthias enrolled in an MD/PhD structured program working Wilhelm Kriz’s Anatomy and Cell Biology research team on the mechanism of glomerular filtration barrier failure. The fascination of the aesthetic beauty of glomerular filters has become the central theme of his research for the past 20 years. Beginning with ultrastructural morphology, he expanded his research efforts to modern molecular biology tools during a post-doctoral fellowship with Josie Briggs, MD, Juergen Schnermann, MD, and Larry Holzman, MD and the University of Michigan.
After returning to Germany he built, under the mentorship of Detlef Schlondorff, MD, a molecular nephrology laboratory at the Medizinische Poliklinik in Munich. Using the unique research team network around the European Renal Cell Study Group, he initiated what is now a worldwide network of kidney research centers to define molecular mechanism of renal disease in humans. For this personalized medicine approach to Nephrology he found an ideal environment at his old alma mater – the University of Michigan – and is now embedded in the fascinating collaborative network of molecular biologists, clinician-scientists, mathematicians, bioinformaticians, and systems analysts at work in Ann Arbor.
The love of his life, Annette, and his two children Katharina and Johannes, are very effective counterbalances to his busy life as a clinician-scientist and ensure he enjoys the wonders and beauties of Michigan’s nature.
Staff
Interns
Alumni
Come work with us
Open Positions
MiKTMC Summer Internship Program
Do you want a growth experience in science? Do you want to intern for a research center that is part of the University of Michigan Health, which is #1 in the state of Michigan for adult hospitals and ranked in the top 20 nationwide? If you answered yes to these two questions, then The Michigan Kidney Translational Medicine Center (MiKTMC) would like to invite you to apply for our Summer Internship Program!
Our internship program seeks to add value to our overall goals in defining chronic kidney disease while offering practical and valuable research experience to help launch the careers of our student interns. Every internship plays a unique role in furthering our research efforts in kidney disease.
Our program guides students in conducting research under the direction of established scientists and career staff in the areas of basic, systems biological, translational, clinical or health services research in kidney disease.
Eligibility:
In order to be eligible, you must:
- Be immediately authorized to work in the U.S. This Program cannot support applicants who require employer sponsored visas now or in the future.
- Be at least 18 years of age prior to the scheduled start date
- Be enrolled currently and immediately following the summer at an accredited college/university
Questions?
If you have questions, please submit your question below: