A-Ha Moments with Jordan Kreidberg '75

Newly bitten by the research bug, Kreidberg spent several high-school summers working at labs at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (where he later attended college and conducted research in the field of immunology). After graduating, he had to make the decision between medical school and graduate school – he ended up doing both, via a combined M.D./Ph.D. program at Johns Hopkins, where he immersed himself in work on molecular biology and solidified his interest in doing medical research.

 

In 1990, after a three-year residency at Children’s Hospital, Kreidberg started a postdoc fellowship at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, which was where his current academic interests first arose. At a time when the field of developmental biology was more actively applying concepts from modern genetics, Kreidberg worked at Whitehead to put specific mutations into the genes of mice. Much to his surprise, he found that these mutations significantly affected the kidney, in some cases completely blocking the normal development of the organ.

 

This “a-ha” moment served as the catalyst for two decades of research on the kidney, with a particular focus on kidney polycystic disease – a genetic disorder that affects over 600,000 Americans and approximately 12.5 million people worldwide. “From a public health standpoint, kidney disease is a major portion of the public health care costs,” Kreidberg says. “The more we can learn how to develop new treatments for the disease, the better.”

 

Since 1994, Kreidberg has headed his own 10-person laboratory at Children’s Hospital, continuing his research and regularly writing grants and journal articles about his findings. In addition to his robust research, the Wayland resident also finds time to teach genetics and developmental biology at Harvard Medical School, which he says keeps him up-to-date on contemporary dialogue in the medical world and serves as a great way to mentor aspiring researchers.

 

Kreidberg admits that investigating something as complex as molecular biology can be an arduous adventure for results-driven individuals. “It requires a fair bit of patience, since it can take a long time to see the ultimate outcome of your work,” he says. “But I find it fascinating to try to help increase our understanding of the scientific basis of human disease.”