Meeting Abstract
Congenital malformations in the genitourinary system occur at a high frequency, yet our understanding of the molecular development of the lower urinary tract lags significantly behind other systems. As an example, hypospadias, a condition in which the urethral opening of the penis is on the underside rather than at the distal tip, occurs in approximately one out of every 120 live male births, yet the developmental etiologies remain unknown. To better understand the morphological and molecular changes that occur to the lower urogenital tract during development we are working on the Genitourinary Development Molecular Anatomy Project (GUDMAP, www.gudmap.org). GUDMAP is a NIDDK U01 consortium of laboratories that provides the research and clinical communities with tools to facilitate genitourinary research. Our lab has combined non-invasive imaging using nanoCT scans with histological and molecular methods for analyzing morphological changes throughout embryonic development in both male and female genitourinary tracts. NanoCT scanning acts as a nondestructive method of high resolution, three-dimensional analysis of genitourinary organ development that will inform our understanding of normal organ formation and will enable the identification of abnormal developmental processes in congenital disorders and deformities in future research.
