Ina Maria Schiessl will never forget the first time she saw a working kidney.

It was her very first day as a PhD student. She stood in a laboratory at the University of Southern California in the USA. A rat was being examined using intravital microscopy, a technique that captures images of biological processes in living animals. The researchers injected dye into the rat.

"I could see on a screen that the green dye reached the glomerular capillaries in the kidney, which then filtered the substance into the tubule system. It was almost a spiritual experience. I thought: Wow! If there is a creator, they’ve really done an amazing job,” recounts the 37-year-old lecturer from the Department of Biomedicine.

Ina Maria Schiessl is the recipient of the 2024 Jens Christian Skou Award - an award given each year to an exceptionally talented health science researcher. She receives the prize for her work in uncovering the mechanisms behind the development of chronic kidney disease.

During her PhD, she spent two months in the USA, which was enough time to learn intravital microscopy from one of the two groups in the world that pioneered the technique in kidney research. She brought the method back to the University of Regensburg in Germany and became one of the first worldwide to publish a study documenting several weeks of structural and functional changes in a living kidney. 

Fibrosis is a mystery

Today, Ina Maria Schiessl leads her own group at Aarhus University, where she and other skilled researchers are trying to understand why some kidneys become chronically diseased.

"The kidney becomes sick quietly. Kidney function can decline over a long period, but because the organ compensates by working harder, you don’t notice it," she explains.

10-15% of the world’s population has chronic kidney disease, which exists in various degrees of severity and can have many causes. One of the most common causes is diabetes. In the worst case, kidney disease ends in dialysis or transplantation.

Ina Maria Schiessl’s lab studies the disease by observing how it develops in mice over time. The researchers simply place an implant in the mouse that functions as a window, allowing them to view the kidney for up to four weeks.

“We observe the same cells over time. Do the cells die, do they divide, what happens to the structure they are part of? What causes chronic disease to develop?”

The group’s focus right now is understanding fibrosis. Fibrosis is scar tissue that the body forms to repair an injury.

"It’s a widespread assumption that fibrosis is harmful. The more fibrosis, the poorer the kidney function,” says Ina Maria Schiessl.

"But there are also studies showing that fibrosis helps the kidney. Maybe it plays an important role in wound healing. We are very interested in understanding the role of fibrosis."

Making the message resonate

Ina Maria Schiessl performed in theater throughout her youth. In high school, she was sure she was going to be an actress, but ultimately decided to study pharmacology because the uncertainty of a career in acting seemed too great.

“I sometimes laughed at those thoughts during my PhD and postdoc on short-term contracts,” says the award-winning researcher.

She performed with a theatre group in Los Angeles while living there for two years during her postdoc.

“It was nice to return to acting. There’s a beauty in performing and seeing how you can move people and make them laugh or cry.”

Although her passion for acting is now set aside, the researcher still uses some of the same tools when she needs to convey a message, such as at conferences or in lectures.

"It’s important to me that everyone understands the data and its significance. So, I use illustrations, clear language, and distinct intonation in my communication. When it works, and questions from the audience reveal their understanding, I rediscover something of the same experience I had when I was acting. The difference is that I’m not acting but using acting tools to communicate what I’m passionate about."

Falling in love with Aarhus

Ina Maria Schiessl became interested in how the body works as early as the 5th grade. She drew skeletons and became fascinated by how organs function.

“The kidney has always been my favourite organ,” she says.

"It’s so complex. It produces hormones and filters our blood."

Ina Maria Schiessl trained as a pharmacist and specifically pursued kidney research in her PhD.

When her two years as a postdoc at the University of Southern California were coming to an end, she was invited to a microscopy workshop at Aarhus University. There, she experienced an environment with engaged, helpful, and solution-oriented people. Something clicked. When she got off the plane back in California, there was an email waiting about a tenure track assistant professorship with teaching in pharmacology at Aarhus University. She already had offers from Regensburg and Hamburg.

"My husband and I banged our heads against the wall because we were on our way back to Germany. But it just felt right for me to go to Aarhus—as if something was pulling me," says Ina Maria Schiessl. She applied for the position and got it.

Since arriving at Aarhus University in 2019, she has had two children and earned the title of associate professor.

In the spring of 2020, the family settled in Aarhus Ø, and Ina Maria Schiessl has no plans to move anytime soon.

As a biomedical researcher, she is now dedicating her scientific career to understanding how kidneys regenerate and transform after injury.

She may share more about this at the award ceremony, which is open to everyone. It takes place on October 8, 2024, at the Steno Museum.

SIGN UP HERE Jens Christian Skou Award 2024 | The Event (au.dk)

Until then, you can learn more about Ina Maria Schiessl by reading her answers to the following questions:

7 Questions for Researcher-Ina

What makes you a good researcher?
I’m good at puzzles. When I study others’ work and look at my own data, I can put it together in a way that forms new hypotheses. In addition, I’m goal-oriented and willing to put in many hours on the job.

When do you look forward to going to work?
Almost every day. I really, really love my job. From the moment I get up, I look forward to getting back to the tasks and the science.

When don’t you feel like going to work?
When there are large administrative tasks on my desk. For example, budget tasks or administrative procedures related to new hires. It’s necessary, but I hate it.

What would you like to be better at?
I want to learn how to code. It’s becoming more and more essential. I also need to run a lab, write grants and articles, and manage my family. But at some point, I’ll have to block my calendar and make time for it because it’s a tool I need to master.

What research results do you dream of?
To fully uncover how the kidney becomes diseased, identify methods to prevent kidney disease, and contribute to a medicine that works.

What are your career dreams?
I dream of becoming a professor and having a lab full of the latest equipment and microscopes that can work independently of one another. I want to feel even more that my work makes a difference and contributes something that reaches all the way to the patients.

Who is your biggest role model?
There are so many talented researchers out there who have influenced and inspired me, so I can’t point to just one. I owe many people a big thanks for opening doors. But I also owe many thanks for the science they conduct and for communicating it in such inspiring ways that I’m filled with enthusiasm and ideas.

7 Questions for Private-Ina

What is your favourite song?
“Irgendwo auf der Welt” by The Comedian Harmonists – a well-known German group that was disbanded in the 1930s because three of its members were Jewish. It’s a song about hope, and the lyrics say, “Irgendwo auf der Welt, Gibt's ein kleines bißchen Glück, Und ich träum' davon in jedem Augenblick” (Somewhere in the world, there is a little bit of happiness, and I dream of it every moment). My daughter sings it to her dolls as she pushes them around in her pram.

What was your first job?
I was a waitress at a French restaurant in Regensburg (Germany). I worked every Wednesday night when there was tango, and I loved watching the dancers and listening to the music.

What makes you happy?
My children – they are the cutest in the world. My work also brings me deep satisfaction – for example, when I get results from the experiments we’ve run. I should probably also mention my husband, ha-ha. Joke aside, I have the most amazing husband. Smart, funny and a big rock in my life. I often wish we had more time together.

What makes you angry?
Untidiness – if people use things and don’t put them back, it really drives me nuts.

What do you do in your free time?
Yoga. I’ve taken an instructor course in Bali, and I love its simplicity. You can do yoga anywhere; you only need a mat.

What is your favourite movie?
The Swedish film As It Is in Heaven. It’s about a famous conductor who, after a heart attack, returns to the small town he comes from and begins leading a choir. It’s a film with beautiful music and a beautiful story about different ways to live your life.

What is your favourite place in the world?
I’ve travelled a lot and feel at home in many places. My favourite place is wherever my family is.

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Associate professor  Ina Maria Schiessl
Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine
Phone: +45 50 20 12 22
Email: ina.maria.schiessl@biomed.au.dk

Department head Thomas G. Jensen
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine
Phone: +45 27 78 28 05
Email: thomas@biomed.au.dk