Fabian Maximilian Bock, MD, PhD

2026 Carl W. Gottschalk Research Scholar Grant

Institution: Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Project Title: Rac1 and the Actin Cytoskeleton in Multicystic Kidney Dysplasia

How would you sum up your overall research focus in one sentence?

The goal of my research is to understand the regulation of the actin cytoskeleton in kidney tubular epithelial cells during development and repair using experimental models that recapitulate human pathology.

Provide a brief overview of the research you will conduct with help from the grant.

Multicystic dysplastic kidney disease is a catastrophic failure of kidney development and the most common pediatric cystic pathology. My grant will investigate a novel and targetable molecular pathway causing multicystic dysplastic kidney disease and lay the groundwork for an R01 focused on identifying Rho GTPase-dependent signaling networks that control actin cytoskeleton regulation and kidney tubular differentiation.

What inspired you to focus your research in this area?

I am generally interested in finding out whether perturbations of the actin cytoskeleton result in reversible common cellular pathologies shared across cell types and developmental stages. This project started with an unexpected phenotype that recapitulated human disease where something seemed to happen in the kidney specifically around birth, a sensitive period that is critical for kidney maturation, but it is not well understood.

What impact do you hope your research will have on patients?

I hope that the data generated through this grant will fundamentally contribute to the question of how tubular cells stay differentiated under mechanical stress, e.g. around birth. I also would like to provide proof-of-principle that even seemingly catastrophic developmental abnormalities do have reversible components to them and that we can exploit the actin cytoskeleton to target them.

What has surprised you most about your career?

How important it is to be in a supportive environment and to have smart, generous, and supportive colleagues which makes the work much more meaningful and fun. As practicing nephrologist, I am also still struck by the contrast between the sophisticated tools we use in the lab and the relatively archaic tools we still rely on in the hospital.

What are the major challenges facing nephrology research today?

Hyper-competitive funding and the need to communicate to the public that scientific breakthroughs take time and are built incrementally through trial and error.

In one sentence, please describe the importance of having grant funding available through KidneyCure.

KidneyCure is essential because it gives early-career investigators the support and protected time needed to pursue innovative kidney research. This project will make an important contribution to understanding a disease mechanism and it could not be done without KidneyCure support.

What advice would you give to others to encourage them to apply for this grant funding?

Start early to think about how you want to present your idea and how you want to convey that it is important what you do. These things seem trivial but take time. As I start reviewing more grants myself, I understand how much reviewers appreciate a concise and really well written proposal.

Something you may not know about me is…

that despite being German I am not actually very punctual, don't read the manual or own hiking poles.

In my free time…

I like to spend time with my wife and daughter playing in our backyard and go on hikes in the beautiful rolling hills of Tennessee.