Currently there are about 100,000 people waitlisted for a kidney transplant in the United States, with an average of 12 people on the waitlist dying each day. We are addressing this serious health problem by studying how kidneys normally develop with the long-term goal of differentiating patient-derived stem cells into functional kidneys to improve survival rates of end-stage renal disease patients. We are also interested in understanding the cellular and molecular basis of pediatric genetic disorders of the kidney. Specifically, we study the molecular regulators of tubule morphogenesis and cell fate specification in mouse models of congenital cystic kidney disease and collecting duct disorders, with the intent of finding better therapies for these diseases.