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Michael S. Balzer

@balzer-lab.org
1.3K followers 2.3K following 168 posts

MD FASN | Professor @uni-kiel.de | Nephrologist & #ClinicianScientist | #SingleCell & spatial multiomics | Determined to understand kidney repair to prevent disease progression | #ERCStG | JASN Editorial Board | 🌐 balzer-lab.org

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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 21/08/2026
Intriguing data from @hjanders.bsky.social: Too much of a good rise?🩸In people w/ CKD starting SGLT2i, Hb climbed for 12 months; erythrocytosis developed in 19.5% of men vs 3.8% of women. At >2,000 m, rapid Hb rise, not the threshold alone, tracked w/ thrombosis. #NephSky 🧪 doi.org/10.34067/KID...
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 19/08/2026
Nice integration work of spatial transcriptomics & metabolomics by @trabelink.bsky.social & team in JASN showing that injured kidney niches are characterized by impaired metabolic remodeling. 🧪 doi.org/10.1681/ASN.... #AKI #KidneyResearch #NephSky #MedSky
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 04/06/2026
🙏Feeling very grateful. Honored to receive the #ERA26 Stanley Shaldon Award from @ERAKidney. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this journey! Our mission remains to better understand kidney repair/regeneration & translate these discoveries into new therapies for patients🩺🧪 #Nephsky #Medsky
Michael S. Balzer receiving the #ERA26 Stanley Shaldon Award from ERA President Roser Torra.
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 03/06/2026
#ERA26 let‘s gooooo! 🧪 #Nephsky, #Medsky
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 03/05/2026
🚨CONGRATS @ksusztak.bsky.social @bernhard-dumoulin.bsky.social & team on a fantastic @nature.com paper! DKD isn’t 1 disease! #spatial & #singlecell data reveal distinct injury niches—including B cell–rich immune subtype linked to faster progression. #Nephrology #PrecisionMedicine #NephSky #MedSky 🧪
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 03/02/2026
Classic Fred Luft #Nephrology 101 editorial on a study testing the effect of potassium supplement on natriuresis: Eliminating sodium with potassium 🔗 academic.oup.com/ndt/article/... #NephSky #MedSky 🧪
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 08/01/2026
The human data brought it home. Higher CTSD expr. in kidney tubules tracked w/ worse eGFR & more fibrosis. Patients on RAASi had lower CTSD. And a gene signature derived from enalapril-responsive cells stratified kidneys by outcomes, not diagnoses. Mechanism meeting prognosis is always satisfying.
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 08/01/2026
Spatial transcriptomics sealed it. In human DKD kidneys, CTSD⁺ connecting tubules and TREM2⁺ macrophages sit next to each other. Not metaphorically. Physically. When disease is present, their neighborhood expands. When RAAS signaling is suppressed, that neighborhood quiets down. Context matters.
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 08/01/2026
Then came the immune system. Those CTSD⁺ distal cells were talking — loudly — to a specific macrophage population: TREM2⁺ resident macrophages. These macrophages were inflammatory, expanded in DKD, and shrank with enalapril treatment. This was epithelial–immune crosstalk, not collateral damage.
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 08/01/2026
Digging deeper, we found a distinct population of CTSD⁺ connecting tubule cells. They sit between healthy and injured states. Not fully broken, not fully normal. Transitional. Plastic. Vulnerable. And enalapril selectively depleted this population. That was the first “oh wow” moment.
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 08/01/2026
One molecule kept showing up: cathepsin D (CTSD). Strongly induced in diabetic kidneys. Strongly suppressed by enalapril. And not everywhere — very specifically in a subset of distal nephron cells. This was not a generic injury marker. It looked like a state.
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 08/01/2026
When we mapped the kidney cell by cell, the biggest enalapril “rescue” signal was not in proximal tubules. It was in the distal nephron. That alone made us stop and reread the plots twice.
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 08/01/2026
Using long-term enalapril treatment in the ZSF1 rat DKD model, we confirmed the obvious first: blood pressure, albuminuria, fibrosis, injury markers all improved. So yes, the drug works. But where does it work? That question is where single-cell really earns its keep.
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 08/01/2026
RAAS inhibitors have been used for decades. We all learned the story: glomeruli, proximal tubules, hemodynamics. But when we looked at this with single-cell resolution, the biology told a different story. Not louder. Just clearer. And it pointed us somewhere unexpected.
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 08/01/2026
Excited to share our recent JASN paper on enalapril effects in #DKD using #single-cell approaches.🧪 Thanks to the whole team @nephrointberlin.bsky.social @PennKidney, and @Bayer. Special 🙏 to my mentor @ksusztak.bsky.social. Her insightful X thread is copied below. 🔗 t.ly/oNjkJ #NephSky #MedSky
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 03/01/2026
Check out a recent interesting case of C-H-BG syndrome from @nephrointberlin.bsky.social. A great example of how rare symptoms in a common disease can present with complex phenotypes. #NephSky #MedSky 🧪 🔗 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 23/12/2025
Merry Xmas! 🎄 Be kind to your kidneys this holiday season. #NephSky #MedSky 🫘🧪
A christmas tree ornament reading "He's making a lith and checking it twice", picturing a kidney with Santa's hat.
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 06/11/2025
👏Fantastic to see @cetinsz.bsky.social from our team presenting insights into #single-cell transcriptomic patterns distinguishing recovery from non-recovery after #AKI. Exciting 🧪 at #KidneyWk Houston, TX! #MedSky #NephSky
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 06/11/2025
❓Do we finally have a nodular sclerosis mouse model for DKD? 🔥Tour-de-force #kidneywk talk by @linkermannlab.bsky.social suggests so. 🧪 #NephSky #MedSky
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 08/08/2025
🔥 Huge congrats to @ksusztak.bsky.social & team on a landmark @natgenet.nature.com paper! 🚶‍♂️🐁🐀Cross-species 🫘kidney pathway dysregulation via #singlecell functional profiling of individual samples — opening new therapeutic avenues. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪 #NephSky #MedSky
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 01/07/2025
👏Congrats to the KidneyCure 2025 Grant Recipients! 🫘🧪 @asnpublications.bsky.social #NephSky #MedSky
KidneyCure 2025 Grant Recipients
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 04/06/2025
🎉🎈Congrats to all ASN 2025 🏆Lifetime & Midcareer awardees! Well-deserved, @ksusztak.bsky.social @rkramann.bsky.social @genetickidneydoc.bsky.social, you are on 🔥!!! #NephSky, #MedSky, #ERA25
ASN Lifetime & Midcareer Awardees 2025
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 18/05/2025
📣Attention #NephSky #MedSky! Inaugural #PeritonealDialysis 🧪research meeting incoming: "1st International Meeting on Cellular & Molecular #PD Research" 📆July 4-5, 2025 @The Nucleus, 🛳️Kiel, Germany 🔗Program & registration: www.pdmeeting.skip-sh.de 👫@ispd.org @dgfn.bsky.social ERA/EDTA
Program & registration: http://www.pdmeeting.skip-sh.de
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 23/03/2025
All quiet on the Western front?! 🧪Work in @jama.com network open shows that predicting #contrast-induced #nephropathy remains imprecise and models demonstrate considerable heterogeneity. #NephSky #MedSky 🔗 jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
sROC curves separated by prediction models for contrast-induced nephropathy
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 20/03/2025
🔥Inspiring keynote at the 1st Joint Mayo Charité Symposium by @asnkidney.bsky.social past president @susanquaggin.bsky.social on the golden era of #kidney health. 🫘🧪 #NephSky #MedSky @nephrointberlin.bsky.social
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 17/03/2025
💵Funding opportunities for female postdoc🧪scientists in #STEM. Calls for🇨🇭🇹🇷🇪🇬🇧🇷🇿🇦 and other countries still open. #NephSky #MedSky #WomenInScience @womeninmedicine.bsky.social @women-in-stem.bsky.social 🔗https://www.forwomeninscience.com/challenge/show/120
QR code linking to application landing page for funding opportunities for Women in Science.
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 15/03/2025
Got fruit? A 🥝kiwi a day keeps the 🫘nephrologist away. Stay healthy and have a nice weekend #NephSky #MedSky! (Gloms reach a little too far down into the medulla, but hey, we don't even have a proper kidney emoji, so 🤷‍♂️)
A kidney-shaped kiwi.
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 13/03/2025
Hey #NephSky #MedSky, today is #WorldKidneyDay! Next generation of🫘kidney🧪scientists hard at work to raise awareness for #KidneyDisease, which affects >850 million people worldwide! 🧦 #SockItToKidneyDisease #KidneyAwareness @kidney.org @asnkidney.bsky.social @theisn.org @nu-nephrology.bsky.social
#SockItToKidneyDisease
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 26/02/2025
Attention European #NephSky #MedSky! Call for abstracts: #JungeNiere 🫘renal 🧪research meeting for early career #ClinicianScientists. July 11-12, 2025 @uniregensburg.bsky.social (GER). 💰Travel grants for students, 🥾hiking &🍺Bavarian beer included! junge-niere.jimdosite.com M. Banas, S. Reichelt-Wurm
Call for abstracts, Junge Niere renal research meeting for early career clinician scientists. July 11-12, 2025 in Regensburg, Germany.
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 07/02/2025
Ever wondered about the genetic architecture of #kidney function? 🔥Fantastic🧪work & impressive resource by @ksusztak.bsky.social & team @science.org on convergent coding & regulatory GFR variants contributing to kidney disease via a genetic score card. 🔗 tinyurl.com/33yzf5wz #NephSky #MedSky
Kidney disease genetic scorecard of genes with convergence of coding and regulatory variants
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 04/02/2025
Nice work by Leonie Wagner, @janklocke.bsky.social, @penghard.bsky.social & team showing urinary distal nephron tubular cell count correlates with #AKI stage 🔥 #NephSky #MedSky 🔗 www.kireports.org/article/S246...
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 03/02/2025
Fantastic @natrevneph.bsky.social disease primer on #kidney adaptation to injury, the devlopment of #CKD, its progression, and how to stop it. @hjanders.bsky.social @romagnanilab.bsky.social 🔥 #NephSky #MedSky 🔥 🔗 rdcu.be/d71Rj
Schematic on kidney adaptation to injury.
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 08/01/2025
🔥Excellent reading material for those off-peak early-morning-can't-get-back-to-sleep-on-call hours: #NephJC Top 10 Nephrology Stories of 2024🔥 #NephSky #MedSky www.nephjc.com/news/2024/1/... @brianrifkin.bsky.social
#NephJC top 10 nephrology stories of 2024 @brianrifkin.bsky.social
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 29/11/2024
🔥Check out the new @science.org paper from @junyuecao.bsky.social lab on mammalian aging! They leveraged a #SingleCell atlas to discover >200 aging-associated cell populations and demonstrate organ-, lineage-, and sex-specific shifts of cellular dynamics. #NephSky #MedSky
🔥Check out the new Science paper from @junyuecao.bsky.social lab on mammalian aging! They leveraged a #SingleCell atlas to discover >200 aging-associated cell populations and demonstrate organ-, lineage-, and sex-specific shifts of cellular dynamics. #NephSky #MedSky
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 25/11/2024
It's that time of the year again! Who else caught themselves reading SINGLE CELLS, SINGLE CELLS...? 🤦‍♂️ #NephSky #MedSky #SingleCell
It's that time of the year again! Who else caught themselves reading SINGLE CELLS, SINGLE CELLS... 🤦‍♂️ #NephSky #MedSky #SingleCells
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 24/11/2024
Just finished a smooth migration of prior X tweets to @bsky.app. Shout-out to @marcomaroni.it for the excellent code! 🔥https://github.com/marcomaroni-github/twitter-to-bluesky #NephSky #MedSky #NewHorizons
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 23/11/2024
1/4 Alright, #MedSky #NephSky, this is fun. Just roasted my PubMed word cloud, powered by scholargoggler.com, thx @morinryan.bsky.social! Here we go: a 🧵
scholargoggler.com
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 27/10/2024
Amazing new spatial data in DKD (1.7M cells) from @BernhardDumoul1 @KSusztak lab #kidneyweek2024
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 26/10/2024
Instrumental work by Hiroaki Kikuchi from @MarkKnepper6 lab on what instigates renal compensatory growth #kidneyweek2024
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 24/10/2024
Fatty acid oxidation in AKI is 🔥🔥🔥No seats left @SunderSimsLucas
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 24/10/2024
Is fibrosis🐓or🥚? Fantastic talk in the spatial session by @Ina_M_Schiessl on intravital tracking of kidney tubules. #kidneyweek2024 #kidneyweek
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 14/02/2024
Outlier #CKD datasets had tubular epithelial cell fractions comparable to healthy datasets, underscoring the importance of cell fractions as prerequisites in the interpretation of #singlecell datasets. 4/🧵
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 14/02/2024
We used 2 orthogonal measures of similarity (Jaccard & hierarchical replicability). ✅biology (health, #AKI, recovery, #CKD) aligned well across species (🐭👥); ❌BUT: we also found some outlier datasets👇. 3/🧵
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 14/02/2024
We analyzed >640k kidney cells from 6 #singlecell studies across species (3🐭, 3👥) in 😊Health, 🥵#AKI, 🤕Recovery & 👿#CKD phenotypes. 👍Gold standard (integrate RAW data): ⬆️labor, ⬇️feasibility; ‼️Our straightforward approach: use DEG output from original studies. 2/🧵
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 14/02/2024
❓❓❓Ever wondered how well pre-clinical #kidneydisease models translate to the human? Recent #singlecell work led by top students in my lab, Kathrien Abdank & @cetin_sz, provides answers. 1/🧵
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 04/04/2023
What is acute kidney injury? Very nice and compact visual guide @Nature on kidney injury and recovery🔥https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00804-9
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 06/01/2023
Congrats on a nice preprint by @HumphreysLab leveraging regularized regression to build parametric gene regulatory networks in #singlecell #multiome datasets🔥 twitter.com/HumphreysLab/status/160…
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 21/12/2022
Nice work in #AKI-to-#CKD transition from Craig Brooks' lab: Cyclin G1 promotes dedifferentiation via activation of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (CDK5)👇@jclinicalinvest
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 02/12/2022
🔥WE read from @fabian_theis lab 👉Population-level integration of single-cell datasets enables multi-scale analysis across samples www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
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Michael S. Balzer @balzer-lab.org · 28/11/2022
RXRα as a key transcription factor in adaptive repair after #AKI? New #ATACseq study in @natcomms 👇https://rdcu.be/c0zRX
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