Blueprints for how human kidneys form their filtering units

A team of scientists has conducted a comprehensive analysis reconstructing how kidneys form their filtering units, known as nephrons. The team studied hundreds of human and mouse nephrons at various points along their typical developmental trajectories, comparing important processes that have been conserved during the nearly 200 million years of evolution since humans and mice diverged from their common mammalian ancestor. The study details the similar genetic machinery that underpins nephron fo...