Decoding Context-Specificity of Cell States by Comparative Analysis: From Model Systems to Human Disease

A Department of Computational Biology Field Membership Seminar

Featuring Dr. Ayshwarya Subramanian, Assistant Professor (Jan ’24), Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University

1 in 4 patients with diabetes will develop kidney disease (DKD). Currently, no treatment halts disease progression for DKD, and kidney focused therapies are much needed. Further, mouse models of disease do not completely capture human disease progression. By using methods in comparative transcriptomics, I studied the cross-species transcriptomic architecture and cellular changes driven by obesity and diabetes, and identified specific macrophage populations, including a distinct population of TREM2high macrophages in mouse kidney that were subsequently validated in human kidney tissue from obese patients, raising the notion of a conserved macrophage population that may determine local response to kidney injury.