Featured Researcher: Brian Becknell, MD, PhD

Read on to learn more about Dr. Becknell’s work and research career.

How/why did you decide to pursue a career in your field? 

As a child, I was always curious about science. Later, I became interested in basic research and understanding mechanisms of biology, whether it involved normal development, physiology, or disease states. I wanted to do research in the context of taking care of patients. So, my journey led to pediatric nephrology via my MD-PhD training at The Ohio State University. Then, during my clinical rotations, I was trying to identify my focus area towards the end of medical school, and I fell in love with pediatrics. Once I decided that, I needed to determine the specialty where I felt I would be best suited within pediatrics. I happened to love my nephrology rotation as a fourth-year medical student. I enjoyed caring for the patients and the families I encountered.

What’s next? What do you hope to accomplish in your research and professional development going forward?

Much of my research focuses on birth defects, which are called congenital anomalies, impacting the kidney and the urinary tract. Children are born with these anomalies, live their whole life with them, and some of them require surgery or medical care as a result. They can have many complications, for example, urinary tract obstruction or a blockage of urine flow, which can damage the kidneys. Other children can also develop urinary tract infections, which can cause tissue injury and patient suffering. I hope that our research can transform the care of these children and lessen the complications they experience so they can have a better quality of life. At this point, there’s still a separation between discoveries made in the lab and translating them into clinical impact for patients. The more we can do to bridge that gap, the more satisfying and uplifting our jobs and our impact can be.

Numerous ongoing studies in our Kidney and Urinary Tract Center could potentially transform children’s care. Studies in my lab and those of my colleagues provide opportunities that clarify our understanding of how our bodies prevent infections and improve our comprehension of how to leverage existing mechanisms to manage children with UTI. For example, instead of placing kids on antibiotics, which have the potential to disrupt the natural microbiome that exists within the gut and cause a lot of side effects, we aim to create tailored therapies to try to prevent these infections.

Another example of research I am collaborating on involves improving the identification of injury markers in the bladder or the kidney due to obstruction. We currently rely on imaging or radiology studies to identify whether a child’s urinary tract is obstructed. However, if we had reliable markers of obstruction that could be measured in the urine of these kids, then we could better interpret the imaging and justify the need and timing of a surgical intervention to try to manage that blockage. We hope that improved markers, along with the existing imaging studies, help identify more effectively which kids are best suited for surgical intervention. The bottom line is that earlier detection can determine the appropriate level of care or response, leading to more favorable long-term outcomes.