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Ora Weisz, PhD

  • Professor of Medicine and of Cell Biology, and Clinical and Translational Science
  • Vice Chair for Faculty Development, Department of Medicine
  • Associate Dean for Faculty Development, School of Medicine
  • Assistant Vice Chancellor for Faculty Excellence, Health Sciences

    Education & Training

  • Graduate School – Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine – PhD – Biochemistry and Cellular & Molecular Biology
Research Grants

NIH Grants:  R01

Research Summary

We use imaging, biochemical, genomic, and modeling approaches to study the regulation of apical membrane traffic in the kidney proximal tubule. Robust apical endocytosis is an essential function of proximal tubule cells and defects in this pathway cause tubular proteinuria that can lead to end-stage kidney disease. We are working to identify the compartments and machinery that mediate apical endocytosis in these highly specialized cells, to understand how this pathway is regulated by physiologic stimuli including mechanosensitive cues, and to determine the molecular basis of genetic disorders and other diseases that result in tubular proteinuria, including Lowe syndrome, Dent disease, and sickle cell disease.

Representative Publications
  1. Weisz OA, Baty CJ. Lemmings into the sea or back across the bridge? The fate of albumin in nephrotic syndrome. Kidney Int. 2018 Feb;93(2):296-298. doi: 10.1016/j.kint.2017.08.037. PubMed PMID: 29389392.
  2. Long KR, Shipman KE, Rbaibi Y, Menshikova EV, Ritov VB, Eshbach ML, Jiang Y, Jackson EK, Baty CJ, Weisz OA. Proximal tubule apical endocytosis is modulated by fluid shear stress via an mTOR-dependent pathway. Mol Biol Cell. 2017 Sep 15;28(19):2508-2517. doi: 10.1091/mbc.E17-04-0211. Epub 2017 Jul 18. PubMed PMID: 28720662; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5597323.
  3. Eshbach ML, Sethi R, Avula R, Lamb J, Hollingshead DJ, Finegold DN, Locker JD, Chandran UR, Weisz OA. The transcriptome of the Didelphis virginiana opossum kidney OK proximal tubule cell line. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2017 Sep 1;313(3):F585-F595. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00228.2017. Epub 2017 Jun 14. PubMed PMID: 28615248; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5625107.
  4. Eshbach ML, Kaur A, Rbaibi Y, Tejero J, Weisz OA. Hemoglobin inhibits albumin uptake by proximal tubule cells: implications for sickle cell disease. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 2017 Jun 1;312(6):C733-C740. doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00021.2017. Epub 2017 Mar 29. PubMed PMID: 28356267; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5494590.
  5. Eshbach ML, Weisz OA. Receptor-Mediated Endocytosis in the Proximal Tubule. Annu Rev Physiol. 2017 Feb 10;79:425-448. doi: 10.1146/annurev-physiol-022516-034234. Epub 2016 Oct 28. Review. PubMed PMID: 27813828; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5512543.
  6. Pereira EM, Labilloy A, Eshbach ML, Roy A, Subramanya AR, Monte S, Labilloy G, Weisz OA. Characterization and phosphoproteomic analysis of a human immortalized podocyte model of Fabry disease generated using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol. 2016 Nov 1;311(5):F1015-F1024. doi: 10.1152/ajprenal.00283.2016. Epub 2016 Sep 28. PubMed PMID: 27681560; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5130460 
  7. Raghavan V, Rbaibi Y, Pastor-Soler NM, Carattino MD, Weisz OA. Shear stress-dependent regulation of apical endocytosis in renal proximal tubule cells mediated by primary cilia. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2014 Jun 10;111(23):8506-11. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1402195111. Epub 2014 May 27. Erratum in: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Mar 15;113(11):E1587. PubMed PMID: 24912170; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4060694. 
  8. Ren Q, Gliozzi ML, Rittenhouse NL, Edmunds LR, Rbaibi Y, Locker JD, Poholek AC, Jurczak MJ, Baty CJ, and Weisz OA (2019) Shear stress and oxygen availability drive differential changes in OK proximal tubule cell metabolism and endocytosis. Traffic. 20:448-459. doi: 10.1111/tra.12648
  9. Gliozzi ML, Rbaibi Y, Long KR, Vitturi DA, and Weisz OA (2019) Hemoglobin alters vitamin carrier uptake and vitamin D metabolism in proximal tubule cells: implications for sickle cell disease. Am J Physiol.  doi: 10.1152/ajpcell.00287.2019.
  10. Gliozzi ML, Espiritu E, Shipman KE, Rbaibi Y, Long KR, Roy N, Duncan AW, Lazzara MJ, Hukriede NA, Baty CJ, and Weisz OA Effects of proximal tubule shortening on protein excretion in a Lowe Syndrome model. J Am Soc Nephrol. In press.