Michael S. Balzer
@balzer-lab.org
MD FASN | Professor @uni-kiel.de | Nephrologist = kidney doc | #PeritonealDialysis aficionado | #ClinicianScientist | Editorial Board member @JASN | #SingleCell | Determined to understand adaptation to kidney disease | #ERCStG | 🌐 https://balzer-lab.org
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...
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
And FIND CKD is live already on NEJM www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... #ERA26
Finerenone in Persons with Chronic Kidney Disease without Diabetes | NEJM
In randomized trials, finerenone, a nonsteroidal mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist, improved kidney and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD)...
nejm.org
🙏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
🚨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 🧪
🚨We've moved! Balzer Lab🧪is now in Kiel (UKSH/CAU)🌊 And we're hiring for ERC-funded projects: 1 #Postdoc, 2 #PhD positions (sc/spatial+organoids) 🔬Study how human kidneys adapt to organ loss! 💰Competitive salaries+full benefits 📅Apply by June 1, 2026 balzer-lab.org/news/we-are-... #NephSky #MedSky
We are hiring | BALZER LAB
Open positions in the Balzer Lab at Kiel University and the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein
balzer-lab.org
One kidney. One decision. Multiple lives changed. German Lopez's very personal opinion piece in @nytimes.com on why he donated to a stranger — and why more of us should consider it. 🫘🧪 🔗 www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/o... #NephSky #MedSky #Science #OrganDonation
Opinion | Want to Make a Difference? Donate Your Kidney.
nytimes.com
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 🧪
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
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...
We really don’t think BigPAK makes sense From our journal club at @uottawa.ca into a #NephJC shorts www.nephjc.com/news/2025/12...
BigPAK or a bundle of balderdash? — NephJC
We break down the latest salvo from Zarbock et al on a supposedly wonderful ‘bundle’
nephjc.com
👏Huge congratulations to my fantastic mentor @ksusztak.bsky.social for receiving the 2025 ASN Homer Smith award.
Nephrology Times@nephtimes.bsky.social · 10mo agoKatalin Susztak accepting the Homer W. Smith Award. #KidneyWk
👏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
❓Do we finally have a nodular sclerosis mouse model for DKD? 🔥Tour-de-force #kidneywk talk by @linkermannlab.bsky.social suggests so. 🧪 #NephSky #MedSky
Cell Decoder: decoding cell identity with multi-scale explainable deep learning. #SingleCellOmics #CellCharacterization #GenomeBiology 🧪🧬 🖥️ genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
🚀 Curious about #SpatialOmics? Want to master spatial omics data analysis using #Rstats and @bioconductor.bsky.social ? 🔥 Registrations are now OPEN for the 3rd edition of our hands-on course with @stemang.bsky.social ! 📅 Save the dates: 18–20 May 2026 www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...
spatial Omics in R/Bioconductor
18-20 May 2026 To foster international participation, this course will be held online
physalia-courses.org
🚀Excited to announce that I’ve been awarded an @erc.europa.eu StG to advance research how kidneys heal themselves — a paradigm shift for understanding & treating #kidneydisease 🫘🩺🧬🧪 👉ERC press release: t.ly/CBxwB 👉Charité press release: t.ly/SR_Wn #ERCStG #HorizonEU #KidneyResearch #NephSky #MedSky
The ERC awards €761m to the next generation of scientists in Europe
The European Research Council (ERC) has selected 478 early-career researchers across Europe to receive this year’s Starting Grants. With a total funding of €761 million, these grants support excellent...
t.ly
📑 Need something to read this weekend? If so, you're in luck! "Integration of spatial protein imaging and transcriptomics in the human kidney tracks the regenerative potential of proximal tubules" fueled by #KPMP investigators is hot off the press today @science.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Integration of spatial protein imaging and transcriptomics in the human kidney tracks the regenerative potential of proximal tubules
The interplay in expression of the stem cell markers THY1 and PROM1 in kidney proximal tubules marks the timeline of disease.
science.org
🔥 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
🔥Paper alert @nature.com. Fantastic 🧪resource for the renal 🫘 community! #NephSky #MedSky Congrats @puellesv.bsky.social lab and team!
Pablo J. Sáez@pjsaez.bsky.social · last yr.#HotFromThePress !! What if instead of analyzing 4-6 pathology markers you could check >100 in the *same* sample? @maltekuehl.com & co @puellesv.bsky.social lab introduce #PathoPlex, method that could even predict disease Full www.nature.com/articles/s41... @focalplane.bsky.social @nature.com 🧪🔬
Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase 2a Study Assessing the Efficacy and Safety of Felzartamab for IgA Nephropathy doi.org/10.1016/j.kint.2025.05.028 #OpenAccess #IgAN #felzartamab #IgANephropathy
Simon Davies kicking off day 2 of the 1st International Meeting on Cellular and Molecular Peritonial Dialysis Research in Kiel.
In the latest video in our partnership with @glaucomflecken.bsky.social, the BALANCE trial comparing 7 days of antibiotic treatment with 14 days of treatment in patients with bloodstream infection is explained. Access the article for free: nej.md/DrG19
The Fellowship Program is one of the ISPD’s key instruments to strengthen global PD expertise through hands-on learning and knowledge exchange. Learn more about the results of our first call for applications in 2025 and the new application modality for teams Doctor-Nurse. buff.ly/7XjuPCM
ISPD Fellowship results - 1st call 2025 - International Society for Peritoneal Dialysis
The Fellowship Program is one of the ISPD’s key programs to strengthen global PD expertise through hands-on learning and knowledge exchange. For the first round of 2025, we received 17…
buff.ly
In the CONFIDENCE trial in persons with chronic kidney disease and type 2 diabetes, combination therapy with finerenone and empagliflozin led to a greater reduction in the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio than either drug alone. Full trial results: nej.md/4jEVbbk #ERA25 #MedSky #Nephrology
