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The genetic revolution transforming kidney disease

Genetic sequencing is changing the way the often deadly disorder is diagnosed, managed, treated and prevented.
  1. Bianca Nogrady

    1. Bianca Nogrady is a freelance science journalist based in Sydney, Australia.

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Five colourful columns of DNA helixes, within each of them a shape of a kidney or an adult/child head.

Credit: Eva Vazquez

Andrew Mallett was training to be a kidney specialist at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Australia in 2011 when he met an 18-year-old man whose kidneys were on the verge of collapse. Struck by how unusual this condition was in an otherwise fit, healthy young person, Mallett asked if anyone else in the man’s family had kidney problems.

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Nature 615, S14-S15 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00654-5

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Chronic kidney disease, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 14 June 2023: This Outlook article originally stated that mutations in the gene COL4A1 cause a condition known as Alport disease. In fact, the disease is called by other COL4A genes.

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