Dr. Jeannine Basta joined the Department of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology on January 1, 2018. She was previously affiliated with St. Louis University.
Jeannine M. Basta, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, Division of Nephrology where she conducts research in The Rauchman Laboratory.
Basta’s research focus is on elucidating the molecular and genetic basis of kidney development in model systems, how genetic mutations lead to congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract in humans, and investigating mechanisms and treatments of kidney injury and fibrosis.
Dr. Basta received her Bachelor’s in Chemistry from Lindenwood University where she was recognized as the American Chemical Society Outstanding Student in her junior year. She then entered the Biomedical Sciences graduate program at Saint Louis University School of Medicine and was awarded a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Basta continued her research in embryonic kidney development as a Postdoctoral Fellow in The Michael Rauchman laboratory. She was appointed to the faculty at Saint Louis University in 2014 in the Department of Internal Medicine.
During her graduate work, Basta was awarded an AHA pre-doctoral award. Her dissertation research revealed novel insights into the transcriptional control of multipotent nephron progenitor cells in the developing kidney.
Basta’s research in the area of kidney development has demonstrated an essential role of a major chromatin remodeling complex (NuRD) in controlling differentiation of multipotent and lineage restricted nephron progenitor cells. These studies have important implications for understanding congenital anomalies of the kidney, and for strategies to promote regeneration after kidney injury. She has also has taken the lead in Dr. Rauchman’s laboratory to investigate novel genetic causes of human birth defects of the kidney and urinary tract.
Basta was selected to attend the Kidney Injury Workshop at Vanderbilt University. Using skills acquired at the workshop, Dr. Basta has tested novel, small molecule integrin inhibitors in models of kidney fibrosis.