John Wiener
Duke University, NC·Medicine & Clinical Research
Spina bifida is the most common permanently disabling birth defect, and myelomeningocele (MMC) is its most common form. Nearly everyone born with MMC has a neuropathic bladder, meaning the nerves controlling the bladder do not work normally.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
spina bifida
myelomeningocele
neuropathic bladder
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Continue following newborns and young children with myelomeningocele through the UMPIRE protocol of clinical, laboratory, imaging and urodynamic testing into school age, to assess the protocol's long-term benefits and risks.
- Enroll all infants with myelomeningocele aged 3 months or younger at the Duke Comprehensive Spina Bifida Clinic into the multicenter UMPIRE study.
- Test the reliability of the urodynamic categories used in UMPIRE to classify bladder function, which help decide who is at high risk for kidney injury.
- Determine whether ultrasound measurements of kidney length are useful in following young children with spina bifida over time.
- Examine how often study participants get urinary tract infections, to judge whether preventive antibiotic use should be expanded or reduced.
More about the research
This can cause urinary tract infections (UTIs) and incontinence. Many children need catheters to empty the bladder. Over time, kidney damage can lead to kidney failure. Doctors still do not know the best way to manage the bladder in newborns and young children with spina bifida. In particular, it is unclear whether early testing and treatment beat simply watching closely.
Why it matters
Children with spina bifida face lifelong risks of incontinence, urinary infections and kidney failure. Long-term data from UMPIRE could help define a standard of care for managing their bladders from birth. It could also clarify when preventive antibiotics, ultrasound monitoring and surgery are actually helpful, with the goal of protecting kidney function into adulthood.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Allyson Shea
University of South Alabama, AL·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether bacterial urinary tract infection triggers amyloid-beta to accumulate in the kidney, and whether this tracks with bacterial burden, using a mouse UTI model.
Mohammad Al-bataineh
University of Pittsburgh, PA·Microbiology & Immunology
Characterize how uropathogenic E. coli binds MUC1, a sugar-coated protein on urinary tract cells. Use purified MUC1 and cells with different MUC1 levels and sugar patterns to test whether it acts as a docking receptor or a decoy.
Jonathan Chen
Stanford University, CA·Medicine & Clinical Research
Harmonize and share electronic health record data on suspected urinary tract infections across Stanford, UT Southwestern and Harvard to support multi-site model building.
The school
Duke University: 61 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 417 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.