Daniyal Jafree

Image of a fluorescently labeled adult mouse kidney showing AQP2 staining of collecting ducts and connecting segment in green and alpha SMA staining of the arterial tree in magenta. The collecting ducts look like squiggly branches.

For this #FluorescenceFriday, a gorgeous image of an adult mouse kidney labeled with AQP2 and alpha SMA antibodies. AQP2 (green) marks the collecting duct and distal connecting segment while SMA marks the arterial tree. Courtesy of talented postdoc Sarah McLarnon.

Kidney transplant rejection linked to changes in lymphatic vessels A link between kidney transplant rejection and changes in the body’s lymphatic vessels has been discovered in a UCL-led study.

Kidney transplant rejection linked to changes in lymphatic vessels

Researchers found that when a kidney transplant is rejected, the lymphatic vessels around the transplanted kidney undergo changes, making it easier for the immune system to attack the new organ.

www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/se...

Take a peek: This issue’s cover features 3D imaging and single-cell genomics by David A. Long @daniyaljafree.bsky.social & team, revealing lymphatic rewiring in kidney tissue with chronic transplant rejection: buff.ly/BZEw4az

Study pinpoints reason why transplanted kidneys can be rejected, scientists say Experts used new imaging techniques to look at the organ’s ‘plumbing system’ to understand what these vessels do during transplantation.

Study pinpoints reason why transplanted kidneys can be rejected.

Research by Prof David Long, @daniyaljafree.bsky.social (@uclchildhealth.bsky.social) and colleagues @greatormondst.bsky.social, Wellcome Sanger and University of Cambridge.

bit.ly/47NIU1V

@uclpophealthsci.bsky.social

An in-depth look at lymphatic reorganization!

This issue’s cover features 3D imaging and single-cell genomics by David A. Long, @daniyaljafree.bsky.social & team, revealing lymphatic rewiring in kidney tissue with chronic transplant rejection: buff.ly/BZEw4az

Jargon-free summaries of the work provided here by @kidneyresearchuk.org: www.kidneyresearchuk.org/2025/09/16/t...

and @sangerinstitute.bsky.social: www.sanger.ac.uk/news_item/ki...

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The project was started back in 2019 with generous funding from @kidneyresearchuk.org, @wellcometrust.bsky.social and @greatormondst.bsky.social Biomedical Research Centre

3/4

This was a huge team effort between @uclpress.bsky.social, @sangerinstitute.bsky.social and @cam.ac.uk

Special thanks to senior authors Menna Clatworthy, Reza Motallebzadeh and David Long for facilitating this project

And to all the patients and families who shaped and inspired this work

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🚨 New paper in @jclinical-invest.bsky.social!

Kidney lymphatics are a promising target in transplant rejection

🗺️ In rejection, lymphatics expand and adversely remodel

⚡️ Although they have an anti-inflammatory profile, they are attacked by the immune system

www.jci.org/articles/vie...

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First of its kind study for children with arthritis reveals possible new disease targets Researchers have been able to see what happens in the inflamed joints of children with arthritis, giving insight into why treatments affect children differently.

First of its kind study for children with arthritis reveals possible new disease targets.

Researchers have been able to see what happens in the inflamed joints of children with arthritis, giving insight into why treatments affect children differently. Read: www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/ju...

I'll soon be advertising for a 3 year postdoc to join our lab at @edinuni-irr.bsky.social exploring #macrophages in salivary gland #development. Candidates should have a strong background in immunology/macrophage biology and/or developmental biology & key skills as below. Informal enquiries welcome!

And last (but definitely not least) thanks to the amazing scientists at David Long’s lab at UCL, who worked hard to wrap up this work whilst I stumble through clinical training (4/4)

Thanks to our collaborators, especially the Ruhrberg Lab at UCL, the Riley Lab at Oxford, @siegenthalerlab.bsky.social and others for providing the support to make this work a reality. We are generous for funding from @goshcharity.bsky.social, @wellcometrust.bsky.social & @kidneyresearchuk.org (3/4)

A UCL Bogue Fellowship enabled me to travel to the Rosenblum Lab @uoftpress.bsky.social in Canada to complete these experiments, which opened up a new collaboration between two internationally recognised centres in childhood kidney disease, @greatormondst.bsky.social & @sickkidsto.bsky.social (2/4)

Genetic lineage tracing identifies intermediate mesoderm as a novel contributor to mammalian kidney lymphatics The lymphatic vasculature is essential for fluid homeostasis, immune regulation and possesses diverse organ-specific functions. During development, lymphatic endothelial cells (LEC) arise from multipl...

Excited to share our new collaborative preprint between @uclnews.bsky.social and @sickkidsto.bsky.social 🥳

We found that kidney lymphatic vessels, an emerging target in kidney diseases, partly arises from the same group of cells that give rise to the kidney

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

(1/4)

🧪 Job alert 🔊 we are hiring a Research Assistant - join the Simões Group at DPAG-IDRM @ox.ac.uk supporting #cardiovascular development and regeneration research, working with #zebrafish and #human stem cell systems: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... @oxforddpag.bsky.social @idrm.ox.ac.uk (1/4)

PhD position available in our team @dublincityuni.bsky.social from September. Please share/ contact me for informal enquiries.

Image captured by a light-sheet microscope showing the arterial tree of an adult mouse kidney in magenta

For #FluorescenceFriday I'm sharing the fantastic work of postdoc Sarah McLarnon! A follow up to our '23 Development paper where we asked: Does precise vascular patterning matter for function and what happens after ischemic injury? The results were surprising! journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10....

An RNA transmethylation pathway governs kidney nephrogenic potential - Nature Communications The mechanisms governing kidney nephrogenic capacity are incompletely understood. Here, the authors reveal that METTL3-dependent RNA transmethylation is both necessary and sufficient to promote nephro...

Thrilled to share our new work in Nature Communications!

We discovered how methionine → SAM → METTL3 → RNA methylation axis guides kidney development, especially nephron progenitor differentiation. #Nephrology #Epitranscriptomics

Here’s a quick breakdown

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I’m grateful for the mentors and colleagues (many who aren’t yet on this platform 👀), who have all collectively given me the support, guidance and motivation I needed to get here

Always looking for new collaborations and ideas, if you’re interested in teaming up then please reach out! 🙌🏽
(4/4)

I’m so grateful for this opportunity - it supports building a research agenda and, in parallel, allows me to continue clinical and leadership training

There are very few such opportunities for those who want to integrate post-doc research w. very early clinical training. I hope this changes!
(3/4)

I am also linking up with the MBPhD programme, from which I graduated, to support and mentor current students and recent grads

Ultimately, I want to find ways to amplify MBPhD students in the UK and help them navigate the barriers to becoming clinician- / surgeon-scientists. Watch this space!
(2/4)

Delighted to be a Accelerator Award recipient @wellcometrust.bsky.social 🥳

I’ll work at @uclnews.bsky.social + @sangerinstitute.bsky.social, diving into how lymphatic vessels regulate immunity, whilst building clinical experience at @greatormondst.bsky.social

wellcome.org/grant-fundin...
(1/4)

These findings reveal a window for interventions to restore the microvasculature

Thanks to our many collaborators, our funders (@kidneyresearchuk.org, the UK PKD Charity, @wellcometrust.bsky.social, The Rosetrees Trust, The Foulkes Foundation) & to the patients and relatives who motivate us (5/5)

We found that the kidney microvasculature in humans with PKD has a unique molecular fingerprint. In mice, abnormalities of the kidney microvasculature occurred early (like the striking results in this image). Importantly, these changes occurred before irreversible damage set in (4/5)

To address this, we used various cool techniques, including:

i) Single-cell genomics to profile kidney microvasculature in patients with PKD 🧬 🫘
ii) A mouse model to explore early disease stages 🐭
iii) 3D imaging and MRI to assess vascular structure and function 🔬 (3/5)

Though vascular issues are well documented in patients with PKD, we know surprisingly little about what happens to the kidney’s microvasculature. These are tiny, specialised vessels crucial for normal kidney function (2/5)

Thrilled to share a new paper from my PhD in David Long’s lab at UCL, published in the Disease Models & Mechanisms journal!

doi.org/10.1242/dmm....

We studied kidney microvasculature in polycystic kidney disease (PKD), the most common genetic cause of kidney failure (1/5)