The Center of Excellence in Pediatric Nephrology strives to provide a coordinated, interdisciplinary, and inter-institutional approach to studying the development of the kidney during embryonic, fetal and postnatal life. The center brings together investigators from the University of Virginia and Tulane University. The main research theme is “Kidney Development and Disease: Cell Fate and Precursors of Disease in the Young and Adult.” Broadly, the proposed research deals with fundamental questions of clinical relevance in Pediatric Nephrology such as the understanding of kidney morphogenesis and homeostasis in health and disease. The experimental approaches range from examination of epigenetic mechanisms that control cell fate, plasticity, and identity and the cellular signals underlying the phenotypic transformation that occurs during kidney injury and repair.