The main objective of the Denby lab is to develop therapies that slow/prevent/reverse organ injury. 

We are particularly interested in understanding mechansims driving fibrosis and formation of the fibrotic niche in the kidney, liver and heart.

Our three research themes are:

1) The role of the non-coding RNA in kidney injury and repair.  One of our group’s main research aims is to understand what mechanisms drive kidney injury and how the kidney repairs itself post injury.  

2) Novel drivers of organ fibrosis as therapeutic targets.

3) Novel biomarkers of kidney disease severity.

My group uses a combination of transcriptomic studies (via RNA-, small RNA-, single cell RNA-Sequencing, and spatial RNA studies) and informative rodent models of kidney injury and its regression to understand the underlying mechanisms.

In 2020 we utilised single-cell RNA to lead on defining myeloid cell heterogeneity in the progression and regression of kidney injury (Conway et al., 2020). Currently we are focussed on understanding the interactions between myeloid cells, the parenchyma and fibroblasts which drive organ injury and repair (Reck et al, Nat Comms, 2025).

Previously we have identified cell specific miRNAs and their target pathways and produced a miRNA atlas of the injured and repairing kidney (Connor et al., JCI Insight, 2020).  Recently, in collaboration with researchers in Queen’s University, Belfast we performed small-RNA sequencing to identify miR-190a-5p as down-regulated in the circulation of patients with diabetic kidney disease. We confirmed this finding in patients with CKD due to diverse aetiologies and that low serum miR-190a-5p predicted adverse renal outcomes. Administration of a miR-190a-5p mimic in a pre-clinical model restored renal miR-190a-5p levels and prevented development of renal injury and fibrosis. (Baird et al, Nat Comms, 2025).  

In addition my group are also interested in identifying new biomarkers of kidney disease severity (Baird et al, KI Reports, 2025) including miRNAs as biomarkers (Baird et al, Nat Comms, 2025) and methods to improve detection of kidney biomarkers.