Edgar Otto

Edgar Otto is an Associate Research Scientist at the University of Michigan Medical School's Department of Internal Medicine - Nephrology, and a Center Member at the Caswell Diabetes Institute. With over 10 years of experience in single-cell transcriptomics for kidney disease, he has processed over 1000 kidney biospecimens and developed protocols for the Kidney Precision Medicine Project.

• Education:
  • MS in Biology, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (1988)
  • MS in Medicine, Mainz University Medical School (1991)
  • PhD in Molecular Genetics, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (1997)
• Postdoctoral Training:
  • Disease gene identification in Nephronophthisis Type 1 at University of Freiburg (1997-2001)

His research focuses on single-cell transcriptomics, kidney disease genetics, and diabetic nephropathy, with expertise in 10X Genomics' scRNA-seq/snRNA-seq workflows. He has identified over 30 novel kidney disease genes linked to ciliopathies, cystic diseases, and glomerular disorders.

His work integrates multi-omics data (exome, genome, transcriptome) from hundreds of patients with computational biology to uncover disease mechanisms. Current projects include renal organoid modeling, hypoxia signaling analysis, and drug development for kidney fibrosis, supported by NIH and industry grants.

Professional Activities:

• Lecturer at Columbia University on high-throughput mutation analysis
• Collaborator with NEPTUNE Consortium
• Contributor to clinical guidelines and patent applications

Teaching: Over 30 years, he has mentored 70+ students and postdoctoral fellows in molecular genetics and sequencing technologies, emphasizing one-on-one training for research project success.