Jaakko Patrakka group
Renal glomerulus biology and diseases
Glomerular diseases are the most common cause of end-stage renal disease. We investigate the molecular profile of healthy and diseased glomeruli with the aim to discover molecular pathways that drive the progression of glomerular disorders. We use transgenic mouse and zebrafish models to understand the role of identified pathways in the biology and diseases of the kidney.
Research group leader
Group members
Financial support
- KI/AZ Integrated Cardio Metabolic Center
- Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation
- Swedish Research Council
- Swedish Diabetes Foundation
- Swedish Juvenile Diabetes Foundation
- KI Foundations
- Westmans Foundation
Research techniques
- Generation and characterization of transgenic mouse lines
- Morpholino and CRISPR/Cas-9 technology in zebrafish. Phenotypic analysis of zebrafish.
- Cell culture
- RNA sequencing
- Expressional profiling by RNAscope, qPCR, immunohistochemistry, Western blot
Selected publications
Proteinuria and prenatal diagnosis of congenital nephrosis in fetal carriers of nephrin gene mutations.
Patrakka J, Martin P, Salonen R, Kestilä M, Ruotsalainen V, Männikkö M, Ryynänen M, Rapola J, Holmberg C, Tryggvason K, Jalanko H
Lancet 2002 May;359(9317):1575-7
Hereditary proteinuria syndromes and mechanisms of proteinuria.
Tryggvason K, Patrakka J, Wartiovaara J
N Engl J Med 2006 Mar;354(13):1387-401
Depletion of Gprc5a Promotes Development of Diabetic Nephropathy.
Ma X, Schwarz A, Sevilla SZ, Levin A, Hultenby K, Wernerson A, Lal M, Patrakka J
J Am Soc Nephrol 2018 06;29(6):1679-1689
GPRC5b Modulates Inflammatory Response in Glomerular Diseases via NF-κB Pathway.
Zambrano S, Möller-Hackbarth K, Li X, Rodriguez PQ, Charrin E, Schwarz A, Nyström J, Wernerson AÖ, Lal M, Patrakka J
J Am Soc Nephrol 2019 09;30(9):1573-1586
Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals the mesangial identity and species diversity of glomerular cell transcriptomes.
He B, Chen P, Zambrano S, Dabaghie D, Hu Y, Möller-Hackbarth K, Unnersjö-Jess D, Korkut GG, Charrin E, Jeansson M, Bintanel-Morcillo M, Witasp A, Wennberg L, Wernerson A, Schermer B, Benzing T, Ernfors P, Betsholtz C, Lal M, Sandberg R, Patrakka J
Nat Commun 2021 04;12(1):2141
Publication accepted in Nature Communications

Single cell sequencing unravels molecular identity of rare renal cell types
Jaakko Patrakka and his research group at the Department of Laboratory Medicine have together with Professor Rickard Sandberg's group at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology got a publication accepted in Nature Communications about single cell sequencing unravels molecular identity of rare renal cell types.