Epithelial Systems Biology Laboratory (ESBL)

The ESBL, led by Mark Knepper, MD, PhD, carries out innovative research on the molecular mechanisms underlying common water-balance disorders, namely dilutional hyponatremia and diabetes insipidus. ESBL researchers integrate state-of-the art proteomics and DNA sequencing methodologies with computational/engineering methods to identify physiological and pathophysiological mechanisms at a cellular level.

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Mark Knepper, M.D., Ph.D.

Featured Publications

RNA-Seq and protein mass spectrometry in microdissected kidney tubules reveal signaling processes initiating lithium-induced nephrogenic diabetes insipidus

Authors: Sung CC, Chen L, Limbutara K, Jung HJ, Gilmer GG, Yang CR, Lin SH, Khositseth S, Chou CL, Knepper MA.
Kidney Int. 2019 Aug 01;96(2):363-377
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A Comprehensive Map of mRNAs and Their Isoforms across All 14 Renal Tubule Segments of Mouse.

Authors: Chen L, Chou CL, Knepper MA.
J Am Soc Nephrol. 2021 Mar 04;32(4):897-912
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Phosphoproteomic identification of vasopressin-regulated protein kinases in collecting duct cells.

Authors: Datta A, Yang CR, Salhadar K, Park E, Chou CL, Raghuram V, Knepper MA.
Br J Pharmacol. 2021 Mar 01;178(6):1426-1444
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NGS-Integrator: An efficient tool for combining multiple NGS data tracks using minimum Bayes' factors.

Authors: Wen B, Jung HJ, Chen L, Saeed F, Knepper MA.
BMC Genomics 2020 Nov 19;21(1):806
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Signaling mechanisms in renal compensatory hypertrophy revealed by multi-omics

Authors: Kikuchi H, Chou CL, Yang CR, Chen L, Jung HJ, Park E, Limbutara K, Carter B, Yang ZH, Kun JF, Remaley AT, Knepper MA.
Nat Commun. 2023 Jun 16;14(1):3481
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Meet the Team

Mark Knepper, M.D., Ph.D.

Mark Knepper, M.D., Ph.D.

Senior Investigator

Mark Knepper received a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan, a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering and an M.D. from Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), and has an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Aarhus in Denmark. He is currently head of the Epithelial Systems Biology Laboratory at the NHLBI. He has published over 500 peer-reviewed papers on hypertension, kidney disease, kidney physiology, and systems biology. Most recently, he has done innovative work on molecular mechanisms of common water balance disorders, viz. diabetes insipidus and dilutional hyponatremia, as well as work on renal compensation for nephron loss in chronic kidney disease. His work has produced computational tools and extensive sets of proteomic and transcriptomic data that are widely used by kidney researchers throughout the US and the world. Dr. Knepper has received the H.W. Smith Award (the highest basic research award of the American Society of Nephrology), the R.W. Berliner Award at Yale University, the C.W. Gottschalk Award of the American Physiological Society, the Hugh Davson Lectureship of the American Physiological Society, and the D.W. Seldin Lectureship of the American Heart Association (Council on the Kidney in Cardiovascular Disease). He has served as Deputy Editor of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology and editorial positions for the American Journal of Physiology and the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

photo of ESBL team members

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Current Vacancy

Epithelial Systems Biology Job

Prospective Post-doctoral Fellows with an interest in our various lines of research should send:

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