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Takuto Chiba, PhD

  • Research Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Administrative Assistant: May Hurtado | Department of Pediatrics | University of Pittsburgh

Takuto Chiba, PhD is a Research Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Nephrology at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He earned his PhD degree in Cell Biology at Vanderbilt University. He received postdoctoral training in Department of Pediatrics in the Division of Nephrology at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

During the transition from AKI to CKD, kidney damage often remains unresolved, leading to ongoing inflammation, fibrosis, and impaired repair, ultimately causing a decline in function. With limited treatments available, many patients progress to dialysis or transplantation, underscoring the need for new therapies to enhance kidney repair and reduce fibrosis.

The Chiba lab studies how the renal microvasculature contributes to this transition, focusing on VEGF-R2 signaling in pericytes—cells that support microvascular endothelial cells. While VEGF-R2 promotes vessel growth in endothelial cells, it may hinder repair in pericytes. Using genetic mouse models, the lab is developing pericyte-targeted therapies to combat CKD progression.

Professional and Scientific Society Memberships
Member of the American Society of Nephrology, member, 2010-present
Member of the American Heart Association, member, 2017-present

Education & Training

  • BA, Biology, International Christian University, Japan, 2003
  • MS, Developmental Biology, Kyoto University, Japan, 2005
  • PhD, Cell and Developmental Biology, Vanderbilt University, 2015
  • Postdoctoral, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, 2022

Selected Publications

Chiba T, Oda A, Zhang Y, Pfister K, Bons J, Bharathi SS, Kinoshita A, Zhang BB, Richert A, Schilling B, Goetzman E, Sims-Lucas S. Cite Share Loss of long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase protects against acute kidney injury. JCI Insight. 2025 Feb 11;10(6):e186073. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.186073. PMID: 39932791

Chiba T, Cerqueira D; Li Y, Bodnar AJ, Mukherjee E, Pfister K, Phua, YL, Shaikh K, Sanders B, Hemker S,  Pagano PJ, Wu YL, Ho J, Sims-Lucas S. Endothelial-derived miR-17~92 promotes angiogenesis to protect against renal ischemia-reperfusion injury. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2021 Jan 29;ASN.2020050717. doi: 10.1681/ASN.2020050717.

Chiba T, Peasley K, Cargill K, Maringer KV, Bharathi SS, Mukherjee E, Zhang Y, Holtz A, Basisty N, Schilling B, Goetzman ES and Sims-Lucas S. Sirtuin 5 regulates proximal tubule fatty acid oxidation to protect against acute kidney injury. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2019 Dec;30(12):2384-2398. PMCID: PMC6900790.

Cargill K*, Chiba T*, Murali A, Mukherjee E, Crinzi E, and Sims-Lucas S. Prenatal Hypoxia Increases Susceptibility to Kidney Injury. PLoS ONE 2020 Feb 21;15(2):e0229618. PMID: 32084244. (*Co-first authors)

Ghimire K*, Chiba T*, Minhas N, Meijles DN, Lu B, O’Connell P, Rogers NM. Deficiency in SIRP-α Cytoplasmic Recruitment Confers Protection from Acute Kidney Injury. FASEB J 2019 Oct;33(10):11528-11540. PMID: 31370677. (*Co-first authors)

Chiba T, Hukriede N, de Caestecker MP. 2015. Kidney Regeneration: Lessons from Development. Curr Pathobiol Rep. Mar;3(1):67-79. PMCID: PMC4477536. Review

Chiba T, Skrypnyk NI, Skvarca LB, Penchev R, Zhang KX, Rochon ER, Fall JL, Paueksakon P, Yang H, Alford CE, Roman BL, Zhang MZ, Harris R, Hukriede NA, de Caestecker MP. 2016. Retinoic Acid Signaling Coordinates Macrophage-Dependent Injury and Repair after AKI. J Am Soc Nephrol. Feb;27(2):495-508. PMCID: PMC4731115.

Miwata K*, Chiba T*, Horii R, Yamada L, Kubo A, Miyamura D, Satoh N, Satou Y. 2006. Systematic analysis of embryonic expression profiles of zinc finger genes in Ciona intestinalis. Dev. biol. 292(2):546-54. (*Co-first authors)

Full Publication List via NIH PubMed »

Research Grants

NIDDK K01 DK133635, The role of maladaptive VEGFR2 signaling in renal stroma for chronic kidney disease

(PI, 75% effort), 2023-present, $241,214.

UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Research Advisory Committee (RAC) Start-up, The role of maladaptive VEGF-R2 signaling in renal stroma for chronic kidney disease (PI, 20% effort), 2023-present, $80,000.

Samuel and Emma Winters Foundation, The role of VEGFR2 signaling in renal stroma for chronic kidney disease (PI), 2023-2024, $10,000.

University of Pittsburgh, Vascular Medicine Institute (VMI) Pilot Project Program in Hemostasis and Vascular Biology (P3HVB), The Role of Maladaptive VEGFR2 Signaling in Renal Interstitium for Chronic Kidney Disease (PI, 5% effort), 2021-2022, $24,287.