Exploring the genetic and clinical epidemiology of kidney disease
Overview
Exploring the genetic and clinical epidemiology of kidney disease, transplant immunology, and the molecular mechanisms of acute kidney injury and allograft rejection; our highly interdisciplinary team utilizes its expertise in clinical and scientific research, bioinformatics, and medical statistics.
Research Focus
Our research focuses on transplant immunology and rejection, including the investigation of clonal dynamics of T and B cells, microRNA (miRNA) profiling, and non-HLA alloantibodies involved in antibody-mediated rejection. In addition, our research has expanded to deciphering the genetic components of kidney injury: aiming to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying delayed graft function and post-ischemic acute kidney injury.
Research Findings
Among our long-standing work in clinical trials, major results from large randomized controlled academic trials found that steroid pre-treatment in deceased organ donors effectively suppresses inflammation in donor kidneys, although it does not significantly reduce the clinical incidence of delayed graft function.
Our further contributions include the identification of biomarkers, demonstrating that whole-genome mRNA and miRNA expression profiles from kidney biopsies can distinguish between different types of injury, as well as detecting acute rejection independently of standard histological assessment. Furthermore, through immunological profiling on patients with rejection, we identified an over-representation of donor-reactive T-cell clonotypes in the urine of such patients.
We have led pioneering research on inducing immune tolerance in kidney transplant patients using mixed chimerism. This breakthrough therapy employs combination cell therapy and regulatory T cells (Tregs) to enable immune tolerance without the need for toxic radiation or chemotherapy.
Finally, a major discovery was our determination of the contribution of genome-wide donor to recipient mismatches in addition to HLA-mismatch as key predictor of histocompatibility and graft loss.
Highlighted Research
Title: Donor Bone Marrow Together with Recipient Regulatory T Cells Induces Chimerism without Irradiation in Kidney Transplantation.
Authors: Wekerle, Thomas, Moritz Muckenhuber, Andreas Heinzel, Anna Marianne Weijler, Ana F. David, Verena Kainz, Karin Hu, Jasmin Mucha, Konstantinos Mengrelis, Roman Reindl-Schwaighofer, Georg A. Böhmig, Bruno Watschinger, Georg Györi, Thomas Soliman, Andreas Salat, Christoph Schwarz, Marlena Muhm, Georg Heinze, Michael Wolzt, Nina Worel, Michaela Fortschegger, Thomas Lion, Heinz Regele, Gabriela Berlakovich, Philip F. Halloran, Matthias Edinger, and Rainer Oberbauer
Journal: Science Transnational Medicine
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.aee6850
Title: The combined impact of HLA and non-HLA incompatibility between donors and recipients on kidney transplant survival: a genomic analysis in a prospective cohort
Authors: Michael Kammer, Andreas Heinzel, Stephen Shoebridge, Roman Reindl-Schwaighofer, Karin Hu, Hao Shan Chen, Alexander Kainz, Ismail Daoudi, Ana F. David, Gottfried Fischer, Brendan Keating, Matthias Niemann, Rainer Oberbauer, iGeneTRAiN consortium
Journal: eBioMedicine 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2026.106420
Title: Donor-reactive clonotypes are overrepresented in the urinary T cell repertoire during kidney transplant rejection and show distinct dynamics in the circulation
Authors: Constantin Aschauer, Andreas Heinzel, Karin Hu, Hao Shan Chen, Roman Reindl-Schwaighofer, Thomas Wekerle, Megan Sykes, Ana Filipa David, Rainer Oberbauer
Journal: American Journal of Transplantation 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajt.2026.03.008
Further publications can be found at https://www.meduniwien.ac.at/nephrogene/index.php/publication-category/original-papers
Recent Grants and Projects
EU projects
SysKid https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/241544/results
BEAt-DKD: https://www.ihi.europa.eu/projects-results/project-factsheets/beat-dkd
DC-Ren: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/848011
WWTF Projects
POLIMORPH https://www.wwtf.at/funding/programmes/ls/LS16-019/
GEN-TX: https://www.wwtf.at/funding/programmes/ls/LS20-081/
Combination cell therapy: https://www.wwtf.at/funding/programmes/ls/LS18-031/
Further information on projects can be found at: https://www.meduniwien.ac.at/nephrogene/index.php/projects
Univ.-Prof. Dr.med.univ. Rainer Oberbauer, PhD
Department of Internal Medicine III
Division of Nephrology and Dialysis
Tel: +43 (0)1 40400-43910
E-Mail: rainer.oberbauer@meduniwien.ac.at
URL: https://www.meduniwien.ac.at/nephrogene/