Exploring How to Heal the Lung
The lab has a deep interest in understanding the fundamental biology that underlies the pulmonary wound response throughout our lifespan. We ask this question using mouse injury models, innovative in-vitro models, primary human samples, and through collaborations across the country with labs that have unique and complementary models of injury. Our focus starts with the alveolar epithelium as the site of gas exchange and a point of vulnerability for recurring injury. We also consider a number of factors such as intrinsic epithelial dysfunction, external stressors, and aging, which may disrupt the normal wound healing process. Modeling these factors in our murine models allows us to capitalize on powerful genetic tools developed to study lung disease. We then perform careful reductionist biology using our in-vitro models to interrogate mechanisms. Finally, we take the hypotheses and mechanisms generated in our models and test them in human-derived systems, including organoid platforms or collaboratively with groups that have complementary human models such as precision cut lung slices or induced pluripotent stem cell-derived epithelial cells. Our goal is to help understand the pathology that occurs in human pulmonary disease to identify new therapeutic targets for acute lung injury and chronic pulmonary disease.
