Artificial Kidney

Vanderbilt researchers used pharmacological manipulations to increase salt and water transport by kidney cells grown in culture, a step necessary for realizing an implantable artificial kidney device. Read More

Vanderbilt University Medical Center nephrologist and Associate Professor of Medicine Dr. William Fissell IV is making major progress on a first-of-its kind device to free kidney patients from dialysis. He is building an artificial implantable kidney with microchip filters and living kidney cells that will be powered by a patient’s own heart. Read More

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a four-year, $6 million grant to investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) to develop an implantable artificial kidney. Read More

The prosthetics research of Michael Goldfarb is featured in "The NBIB Bionic Man," an interactive web tool that helps students and the public learn about innovative federally-funded biomedical research. Read More

Nephrologist William Fissell IV, M.D., associate professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering, is intent on creating and mass-producing an implantable bioartificial kidney that can transform quality of life and prospects for survival for people with chronic kidney disease who would otherwise be forced onto dialysis. Read More