A new study at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeon has found that genes cause about 1 in 10 cases of chronic kidney disease in adults, and that identifying the responsible genes has a direct impact on treatment for most of these patients.

In a study published June 20, 2018, in Nature Communications, researchers analyzed pieces of cell-free DNA isolated from the urine of kidney transplant patients and discovered that it provides valuable information about the bacterial and viral composition found within patients’ urine.

Over the past three decades, Dr. Manikkam Suthanthiran and his colleagues at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell is responsible for much of the progress in kidney transplantation.

NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia, a Kidney Precision Medicine Project recruitment site, is working to understand the cell types that are specific to kidney injury and can be targeted with new therapeutic agents.