Current Projects
How Stretch Regulates Lung Matrix Remodeling in Development and Disease
The human lung begins as an outpouching of the ventral foregut during the 4th-5th week of gestation subsequently progresses through a series of developmental stages culminating in a gas-exchanging organ with a surface area of ~750 square feet and a vasculature that matches right ventricular output to the bulk flow of atmospheric gas. While we understand many of the critical events in early lung morphogenesis, we understand less about how the lung forms these gas exchanging units (alveoli), how these pathways and processes are altered in states of impaired development (i.e. bronchopulmonary dysplasia or destruction (i.e. emphysema), and how we might halt these destructive processes and promote lung development and regeneration. Since the late prenatal and postnatal lungs exist within the cyclic stretch of the respiratory cycle, we focus on understanding how mechanosensitive and mechanotransductive inputs regulate morphogenesis of the late prenatal and postnatal lung.
Lab Projects
- Impact of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia and Fetal Tracheal Occlusion on Lung Development
- Role of Chymotrypsin-like Elastase 1 in Alveolar Development
- Role of Chymotrypsin-like Elastase 1 in Emphysema
- Molecular Mechanism of Interaction between Chymotrypsin-like Elastase 1 and α1-antitrypsin
- Multi-omic Profiling to Identify Pediatric ARDS subgroups
