My main research aim is to find out why people are sometimes born with abnormal kidneys, ureters and bladders. These are the key causes of children needing long term renal dialysis and kidney transplantation. I am also working on translational therapies, including those using gene therapies and precursor cells, for kidney and bladder diseases.
My research successes include: discovery of mutations in kidney and urinary tract malformations, and showing that the encoded molecules regulate epithelial, smooth muscle and neural differentiation; elucidating and ameliorating pathological mesenchymal-epithelial growth factor signalling in the renal tract and also the peritoneal lining; testing preclinical growth factor therapies for polycystic kidney diseases and renal agenesis; and using human pluripotent stem cell models to model normal and abnormal renal tract development.
My research and development work unites speciality clinical services with new perspectives from Developmental, Cell Biology and Genomic sciences. I have published 170 original research publications, with 'h' and 'g' factors of 69 and 113 (Google Scholar).