kidney

Scientists at Pennsylvania State University and Stanford University are reporting a breakthrough that could greatly improve on methods to detect kidney stones, demonstrating a novel type of urine test that can return results in just 30 minutes.

Organ transplants are invasive and donors hard to find. Treating kidney disease with stem cells is an option, and now researchers have isolated and studied kidney stem cells from urine samples, which could be a much easier way to collect them.

Kidney stones are a common health problem, and while manageable, they can be quite painful. Now, researchers at MIT have found a particular combination of two drugs that can relax urinary tract tubes, allowing stones to be passed more easily.

Success with chemotherapy is a trade-off against subsequent damage to otherwise healthy organs, but thanks to a chance meeting at the Hudson Institute in Melbourne, lung cancer patients could be looking at more effective chemo with fewer side effects.

For the first time, scientists have successfully grown functioning human kidney tissue in the lab that is able to produce urine. The kidney tissue, generated from human stem cells, was implanted under the skin of mice and went on to develop into working kidney cells.

Ordinarily, when a donated kidney is waiting to be transplanted, it's cooled on ice. Doctors from Toronto General Hospital have become the first in North America to try another technique, however. They've kept a kidney alive at body temperature, using an altered heart-lung machine.

​Traditionally when a small tumor is discovered in the kidney an invasive biopsy is needed to determine if it is malignant or benign. Researchers have developed a breakthrough new method that uses current MRI technology to accurately identify the aggressiveness of a tumor without a biopsy

CRISPR-Cas9 shows incredible promise, but the long term effects of cutting DNA in living organisms isn’t known. Now scientists from the Salk Institute have modified it to work without cutting, switching targeted genes on and off instead, and used it to treat diabetes and muscular dystrophy in mice.

Kidney stones aren't anyone's idea of a good time, but treating them could be more fun than we think. The prescription? A day at Walt Disney World. Researchers have found that roller coasters are an effective way to dislodge kidney stones, with tests showing a success rate of almost 70 percent.

​Because they filter our blood, our kidneys are particularly susceptible to damage from toxins in our bloodstream. So, how do drug developers know how much is safe? Typically, it's through animal testing, although researchers have now developed something more accurate – a "kidney-on-a-chip."​

In 2009, we had a look at the Wearable Artificial Kidney (WAK) concept. The device has now been granted approval for human testing in the United States by the FDA with clinical trials scheduled to take place in Seattle later this year.

When people have nerve problems such as those caused by spinal injuries, they can lose the ability to feel when their bladder is full. A tiny new sensor may offer an improved method of assessing their condition, to see if surgery is required or if medication will suffice.