Karam Aboudehen, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Division of Nephrology & Hypertension
Department of Medicine
Renaissance School of Medicine
101 Nicolls Rd, HSC T 15-103
Stony Brook University
karam.aboudehen@stonybrookmedicine.edu
The Aboudehen Lab studies RNA biology in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), with two major research themes: 1) understanding how long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) influence cystogenesis, and 2) defining how PKD1 mRNA is regulated to identify therapeutic strategies that increase polycystin-1 expression and rescue the disease.
ADPKD caused primarily by mutations in PKD1 and PKD2, yet disease severity varies widely among patients. This suggests that additional regulatory mechanisms modify cyst initiation, cyst growth, and the decline in kidney function. Our laboratory focuses on RNA-based regulation as an important class of disease-modifying mechanisms. 
Our work is organized around two major research programs:
1. LncRNAs in PKD: how disease-associated lncRNAs regulate cystogenesis.
2. PKD1 mRNA biology and polycystin-1 dosage: how RNA-binding proteins, RNA-RNA interactions, and post-transcriptional mechanisms regulate PKD1 mRNA output and polycystin-1 production.
We aim to identify therapeutic strategies that restore protective RNA pathways or increase functional polycystin-1 dosage in ADPKD.