Creative BioMolecules other research news

CBMI and collaborators published their identification of OP-1 as the signal that is responsible for triggering growth of the kidney glomeruli and tubules, the blood filtering structures of the organ. As reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, OP-1 is made in the ureteric bud, the tissue that signals embryonic kidney formation. OP-1 is produced at precisely the time in embryogenesis that differentiation of kidney tissue occurs.

Moreover, OP-1 could substitute for the ureteric bud tissue to form kidney tissue in cultured embryos. When the OP-1 activity was blocked, kidney failed to form. ...