Vishal Patel, M.D.
Associate Professor

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Vishal Patel, M.D., is a Physician-Scientist and an Associate Professor (with Tenure) in the Dept. of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He obtained his medical degree from India in 2000 and completed his Internal Medicine residency at Northwestern University in 2004 and clinical Nephrology fellowship at UT Southwestern in 2005. Following his clinical training, he studied kidney genetics and primary cilia biology as an NIH-funded Physician-Scientist trainee at UT Southwestern from 2005 to 2009.

         In 2009-10, as an independent investigator, Dr. Patel charted a new course in the then little-studied non-coding RNA field, which has become the central theme of his research laboratory. They study the basic aspects of RNA biology (mRNA translation regulation, RNA chemical modifications, non-coding RNAs, etc.) in the context of polycystic kidney disease (PKD), other genetic kidney disorders, and kidney development. Their seminal scientific contribution is devising a feasible framework for an endogenous, mutation-agnostic, PKD1/2 mRNA therapy approach, which has the potential to transform the autosomal dominant PKD (ADPKD) treatment landscape. ADPKD is caused due to heterozygous mutations of PKD1 or PKD2. The Patel lab has discovered that microRNA-17 binds to the mRNAs made by the remaining non-mutated PKD1/2 allele and represses its expression. Inhibiting miR-17 or preventing it from binding to PKD1/2 stabilizes the mRNAs and ameliorates preclinical PKD. They have co-developed an anti-miR-17 drug, which has already traversed from bench to clinical testing. Dr. Patel’s lab has been continuously funded by the NIH since 2009. They have published their work in highly-regarded journals such as PNAS, Nature Communications, and Cell Metabolism.

           Dr. Patel is the Director of a Comprehensive PKD and kidney genetics clinic at UT Southwestern, which now, with nearly 250 patients, is among the largest nationally. He has brought innovative new clinical trials to this clinic. Dr. Patel has mentored eight postdocs; five now have academic faculty appointments, including one who is a K08-funded physician-scientist and another who is a K01-funded basic scientist. He has also mentored eight undergraduate students, including two who are now MD-PhDs, six women scientists, four URM trainees, and two first-generation college graduates. In 2021, he assumed the leadership of the UT Southwestern Nephrology NIH training program and devised an ambitious new multi-institutional “Dallas-Fort Worth” post-doctoral training program, which seeks to train cross-disciplinary next-generation researchers in kidney, urology, and hematology fields.

         Dr. Patel is active in several important national leadership positions. He serves NIH and DOD grant study sections, including as a study section chair. He is the vice-chair of the scientific advisory committee for the PKD Foundation and will assume the role of Chair in 2023. He is an elected member of the ASCI (2023). He serves as an Editor for Scientific Reports and Frontiers of Physiology and is a scientific consultant for several pharmaceutical companies.

Medical School

Pramukhswami Medical School, India (2000)

Internship

Mount Sinai Hospital Medical Center (2002), Internal Medicine

Residency

McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University (2004), Internal Medicine

Fellowship

UT Southwestern Medical Center (2006), Nephrology

Research Fellowship

UT Southwestern Medical Center (2008), Research

• Kidney Development and Homeostasis
• microRNAs, ncRNAs
• mRNA translation regulation
• Polycystic Kidney Disease
• RNA metabolism
• RNA therapeutics

Featured Publications

PKD1 and PKD2 mRNA cis-inhibition drives polycystic kidney disease progression.

Lakhia R, Ramalingam H, Chang CM, Cobo-Stark P, Biggers L, Flaten A, Alvarez J, Valencia T, Wallace DP, Lee EC, Patel V, Nat Commun 2022 Aug 13 1 4765

A methionine-Mettl3-N⁶-methyladenosine axis promotes polycystic kidney disease.

Ramalingam H, Kashyap S, Cobo-Stark P, Flaten A, Chang CM, Hajarnis S, Hein KZ, Lika J, Warner GM, Espindola-Netto JM, Kumar A, Kanchwala M, Xing C, Chini EN, Patel V, Cell Metab 2021 Jun 33 6 1234-1247.e7

Interstitial microRNA miR-214 attenuates inflammation and polycystic kidney disease progression.

Lakhia R, Yheskel M, Flaten A, Ramalingam H, Aboudehen K, Ferrè S, Biggers L, Mishra A, Chaney C, Wallace DP, Carroll T, Igarashi P, Patel V, JCI Insight 2020 Apr 5 7

Discovery and preclinical evaluation of anti-miR-17 oligonucleotide RGLS4326 for the treatment of polycystic kidney disease.

Lee EC, Valencia T, Allerson C, Schairer A, Flaten A, Yheskel M, Kersjes K, Li J, Gatto S, Takhar M, Lockton S, Pavlicek A, Kim M, Chu T, Soriano R, Davis S, Androsavich JR, Sarwary S, Owen T, Kaplan J, Liu K, Jang G, Neben S, Bentley P, Wright T, Patel V, Nat Commun 2019 Sep 10 1 4148

microRNA-17 family promotes polycystic kidney disease progression through modulation of mitochondrial metabolism.

Hajarnis S, Lakhia R, Yheskel M, Williams D, Sorourian M, Liu X, Aboudehen K, Zhang S, Kersjes K, Galasso R, Li J, Kaimal V, Lockton S, Davis S, Flaten A, Johnson JA, Holland WL, Kusminski CM, Scherer PE, Harris PC, Trudel M, Wallace DP, Igarashi P, Lee EC, Androsavich JR, Patel V Nat Commun 2017 Feb 8 14395

MicroRNA-21 Aggravates Cyst Growth in a Model of Polycystic Kidney Disease.

Lakhia R, Hajarnis S, Williams D, Aboudehen K, Yheskel M, Xing C, Hatley ME, Torres VE, Wallace DP, Patel V J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. 2016 Aug 27 8 2319-30

miR-17~92 miRNA cluster promotes kidney cyst growth in polycystic kidney disease.

Patel V, Williams D, Hajarnis S, Hunter R, Pontoglio M, Somlo S, Igarashi P Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 2013 Jun

MicroRNAs and fibrosis.

Patel V, Noureddine L Curr. Opin. Nephrol. Hypertens. 2012 Jul 21 4 410-6

Anti-microRNA screen uncovers miR-17 family within miR-17~92 cluster as the primary driver of kidney cyst growth.

Yheskel M, Lakhia R, Cobo-Stark P, Flaten A, Patel V Sci Rep 2019 Feb 9 1 1920

Planar cell polarity genes Celsr1 and Vangl2 are necessary for kidney growth, differentiation, and rostrocaudal patterning.

Brzóska HL, d'Esposito AM, Kolatsi-Joannou M, Patel V, Igarashi P, Lei Y, Finnell RH, Lythgoe MF, Woolf AS, Papakrivopoulou E, Long DA Kidney Int. 2016 Dec 90 6 1274-1284

• PKD Foundation Grant
  PKD Foundation (2014)
• Rising Star in Nephrology - State of Texas
  Super Doctors (2012)
• Career Development Award
  National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (2009)
• O'Brien Center Pilot and Feasibility Grant
  UT Southwestern (2009)
• Young Investigator Travel Award
  Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (2007)
• Chief Fellow, UT Southwestern Medical Center-Nephrology fellowship
  (2006)
• Chief Nephrology Fellow
  UT Southwestern (2005-2008)

• American Society of Nephrology