Balaji Karthick Subramanian, PhD

2025 Norman Siegel Research Scholar Grant

Institution: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School

Project Title: Tissue Chip System to Study Normal and Disease Podocyte Behaviors

How would you sum up your overall research focus in one sentence?

My research focuses on using bioengineered kidney models to uncover how specialized kidney cells like podocytes and tubular epithelial cells regulate stress responses, with the goal of identifying new therapeutic strategies for kidney injury.

Provide a brief overview of the research you will conduct with help from the grant.

With support from this grant, I will investigate how podocytes establish and maintain their unique structure and function and explore whether targeting mitochondrial mechanisms can serve as a novel therapeutic approach using both engineered kidney systems and in vivo models.

What inspired you to focus your research in this area?

I was inspired by the unique biology of podocytes—cells that have mastered the balance between terminal differentiation and stress resistance—and saw an opportunity to apply these lessons to diseases beyond the kidney, including cancer.

What impact do you hope your research will have on patients?

I hope to uncover new therapeutic strategies that not only protect kidney function during acute and chronic injury but also open innovative avenues for regenerative medicine, slowing the kidney aging process, or developing synthetic kidneys.

What are your career goals at the end of the grant period? Five years out? Ten years out?

At the end of the grant, I aim to have published key findings and built a strong foundation for R01 funding. In five years, I plan to lead a multidisciplinary lab advancing kidney tissue engineering and translational therapeutics. In ten years, I aim to be a thought leader in regenerative nephrology and a mentor training the next generation of physician-scientists.

What has surprised you most about your career?

I've been most surprised by how insights from one field—like cancer biology—can profoundly shape research questions and breakthroughs in another, such as nephrology.

What are the major challenges facing nephrology research today?

A major challenge is the limited availability of human-relevant models that capture the complexity of kidney disease, which slows both our mechanistic understanding and therapeutic development.

In one sentence, please describe the importance of having grant funding available through KidneyCure.

KidneyCure funding is crucial for launching innovative, high-risk research ideas that often struggle to gain traction in traditional funding pipelines.

Something you may not know about me is…

Something you may not know about me is that I initially trained in bioengineering and nearly pursued a career in regenerative medicine before nephrology drew me in with its complexity and clinical urgency.