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High-Resolution Kidney Lipid Atlas Uses Imaging AI for Disease Insights

EurekAlertResearch
High-Resolution Kidney Lipid Atlas Uses Imaging AI for Disease Insights

Vanderbilt researchers created the first high-resolution kidney lipid atlas using advanced imaging and machine learning, mapping over 100,000 tissue units.

Key Details

  • 1Study published in Science Advances in June 2025 by Vanderbilt and Delft University teams.
  • 2Mapped lipid profiles across more than 100,000 functional units in 29 donor kidneys using MALDI imaging mass spectrometry and microscopy.
  • 3Applied multimodal registration and interpretable machine learning to co-register and analyze datasets.
  • 4Identified molecular signatures tied to specific kidney structures and disease risk factors such as BMI and sex.
  • 5Data and analysis tools are publicly available through NIH's HuBMAP program.
  • 6Project funded by multiple NIH institutes and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Why It Matters

This molecular atlas advances the integration of molecular imaging and AI, offering a reference framework for kidney health and disease, which could lead to new diagnostics, therapies, and biologically-informed segmentation for renal pathology and radiomics.

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