About Us

Welcome to the Zeidel Lab!

Disorders of voiding, including incontinence, overactive bladder, bladder pain and lower urinary tract symptoms, as reported in patients, increase rapidly as people age, and affect more than 70% of people over the age of 40 (Coyne et al. (2009) BJU Int 104:352). Unfortunately, treatment options for this population are often ineffective. Our large group focuses on fundamental research questions in animal models that attempt to understand the neural circuitry that controls how and when we urinate; and also to modeling and investigating a number of urinary tract diseases. Members of our group make up a diverse collection of independent scientists who collaborate productively to drive better understanding of the causes that lead to urinary symptoms. We believe better mechanistic understanding will lead to better therapies!

We are also beginning to map the neural circuits from brain to spinal cord to kidney to better understand the brains involvement in water and salt balance and control of blood pressure. We use state-of-the-art techniques in next generation single nuclei RNA sequencing, opto- and chemo-genetics, neural tracing, fMRI, Cre-recombinase reporter mice, electrophysiology and in vivo physiological measurements.

Regards,
Mark L. Zeidel, MD 
Herrman L. Blumgart Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School 
Chair, Department of Medicine
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center