THE FACES OF ESCAPE


Clinical researchers from 13 European countries, united in their devotion to improve the lives of their young patients.

Max Liebau

Max Liebau is a consultant pediatric nephrologist, head of Experimental Pediatric Nephrology and head of a novel Interdisciplinary Center for chronically ill Children at the Department of Pediatrics of the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany. Dr Liebau combines his clinical training with his experience in cellular and molecular biology during a postdoc in the Nephrology Research Laboratory in Freiburg and Cologne.

His group follows a translational approach to study genetic kidney diseases with a special focus on Autosomal Recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease (ARPKD) as a model for ciliopathies. The lab currently works on cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying ARPKD and other ciliopathies.

Together with Franz Schaefer from Heidelberg and Djalila Mekahli from Leuven, Max Liebau recently established the international clinical cohort studies on autosomal recessive and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease in childhood including associated biobanking: ARegPKD, where Max serves as the international coordinator, and ADPedKD. The projects aim to provide an observational evidence base for unified clinical treatment concepts and the establishment of clinical and biomarkers predicting the risk of early and progressive disease as well as to lay the foundation for innovative translational research toward novel therapeutic targets and clinical trials for cystic kidney diseases childhood.

Dr Liebau received multiple national and international honors and awards, including the Adalbert-Czerny-Award, the highest scientific award in German Pediatrics.

Max contributes to these projects of the ESCAPE Network: