In the human body, all organs communicate and collaborate to maintain health. However, when inter-organ communication is disrupted by disease in one organ, this can lead to the onset of disease in other organs. In this theme - led by Rick Mutsaers - there are currently two projects ongoing:

 

1) Exploring inter-organ communication in chronic kidney disease and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
In this project we investigate why people that suffer from fatty liver disease are more likely to develop chronic kidney disease and vice versa, with a special focus on bile acids and uremic toxins.

 

2) Uremic toxins: drivers of cardiovascular disease

Here, we study the accumulation of uremic toxins in patients with acute heart failure, and we employ a broad array of cell, tissue and animal models to study uremic toxin‐associated cardiovascular diseases.