Oxidative mechanisms in pulmonary disease.

Description of projects available to graduate students:
General Description of the Laboratory.
Oxidative Mechanisms of Disease:
•Pulmonary Fibrosis
•Acute lung injury
•Pneumonia

My research is centered on the antioxidant enzyme extracellular superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD). Using transgenic and knockout animals, the lab is currently investigating the importance of EC-SOD in pulmonary disease models. I am particularly interested in how this antioxidant enzyme modulates oxidative fragmentation of components of the extracellular matrix and how this contributes to inflammatory responses and tissue remodeling (fibrosis).

We have recently found that EC-SOD is very important in innate immunity. Specifically, EC-SOD appears to be required for normal bacterial phagocytosis. We are currently investigating how EC-SOD modulated bacterial phagocytosis.

Available Rotation Projects include:
1. Role of EC-SOD in pulmonary fibrosis. In particular projects would include determining new matrix targets sensitive of oxidative fragmentation and characterizing the importance of this fragmentation on mediating inflammatory and fibrotic responses.

2. Investigating the mechanisms in which EC-SOD regulates bacterial phagocytosis. Utilize pneumonia models to determine role of EC-SOD in bacterial clearance and resolution of inflammation. Utilize EC-SOD and other antioxidants as potential therapies to treat pneumonia.

Techniques graduate student will learn:
Transgenic and knockout animal models of pulmonary fibrosis and bacterial pneumonia, electrophoresis, immunoblotting, spectrophotometric enzyme assays, RNA isolation, real time RT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, protein purification and characterization, amino acid analysis, histopathologic grading of pulmonary disease.

Note 1: One of the models of pulmonary fibrosis examined in the laboratory is asbestos-induced pulmonary fibrosis (asbestosis). These studies provide students with an excellent opportunity to obtain funding from NIEHS as they have numerous awards for PhD and MD-PhD graduate students studying environmental diseases.