Sunday, September 14, 2008

From Fish To Philosopher

Homer Smith is considered the Father of Renal Physiology. He was a PhD (rather than an MD) whose studies on the fish renal system are amongst the first renal physiology experiments. For instance, his work on the goosefish (the funny-lookin' fish pictured to the left), which is aglomerular and therefore relies purely on tubular function for clearance, helped establish the important concepts of secretion and reabsorption as fundamental processes of renal function. Much of his work was done here at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory, in a small building right by the ocean called "The Kidney Shed."

Nearby the "Kidney Shed" there is a cute, cell biology-themed fence--which incorporates not only a membrane phospholipid bilayer, but also the Na-K ATPase (in my mind, one of the defining molecules of Nephrology) and the endothelin receptor (complete with 7 transmembrane-spanning segments!)

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