News & Spotlights
New model reveals early steps in ILD
Pulmonary fibrosis involves relentless progressive scarring of the lung. Its poorly understood pathogenesis, due in part to a paucity of productive disease models, hampers clinical advancement for interstitial lung disease (ILD). Assistant Professor Kontantinos Alysandratos and Professor Darrell Kotton have made a major advance in this arena by recapitulating early events in ILD. More
Lung epithelial cells instruct T cells and adaptive immunity
Lung immunity is essential to combat all pulmonary diseases, including COVID-19, pneumonia, lung cancer, asthma and COPD. Lung immunity differs from the systemic immunity which is the normal focus of biomedical investigations and interventions, but factors influencing the establishment and regulation of lung immunity are mostly still unknown. Jay Mizgerd's... More
Recent Awards for Pulmonary Fellows
Congratulations to these Pulmonary Center trainees who were recently successful in receiving extramural training awards: (Featured left to right) Eduardo Nunez, MD Fourth Year Fellow Mentor: Renda Wiener NIH NCI F32 - Determining organizational structures and processes that improve lung cancer screening adherence among underserved populations, effective 9/15/21 LUNGevity Foundation Health Equity and Inclusiveness Research Fellow... More
Jay Mizgerd named Jerome S. Brody, MD, Professor of Pulmonary Medicine
We are so pleased that Joseph P. Mizgerd, ScD, was named the inaugural Jerome S. Brody, MD, Professor of Pulmonary Medicine. On Sept. 14, colleagues, friends and family gathered in a ceremony held both in-person and over Zoom to witness the installation and to celebrate the contributions of Drs. Brody... More
New Research Identifies Signals Controlling Goblet Cells in the Lung
Associate Professor Bob Varelas and colleagues have discovered that goblet cell numbers in the airways are governed by Yap and Taz transcription factors. Because goblet cells and the mucus they produce are excessive in many chronic lung diseases (such as COPD, asthma, and cystic fibrosis), this new understanding of the... More
BUSM Awarded $4.1M to Support the Next Generation of Trail-blazers in Multidisciplinary Lung Science
We are so pleased that “Biology of the Lung: A Multi-Disciplinary Program” has been renewed! The current cycle is funded for five years, from July 1, 2021 until June 30, 2026. This T32 grant provides multidisciplinary training in collaborative lung biology and pulmonary medicine research, in three scientific areas that... More
Antibodies Produced in the Lung Can Prevent Respiratory Infections from Becoming Severe
Researchers in the Pulmonary Center, led by Dr. Jay Mizgerd, have discovered that after recovering from a respiratory infection, new B cells get deposited in lung tissue, persist there, and then become antibody secreting cells very quickly if the lungs get infected again later by something similar. They showed that... More
Do lottery strategies work to boost COVID vaccination?
COVID-19 has caused a tragic loss of life and well-being. The rapid development, testing, and distribution of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 is an incredible biomedical accomplishment. Some people choose not to receive vaccines that are available to them, increasing risk for them and others around them. As an attempt to overcome... More
Recent Awards for Trainees
Congratulations to these Pulmonary Center trainees who were recently successful in receiving extramural training awards: Claire Burgess Ph.D. Student, Mentor: Darrell Kotton NIH F31 Predoctoral Fellowship Award "Generation of human alveolar epithelial type I cells from pluripotent stem cells" Senegal Carty Ph.D. Student, Mentor: Matt Jones American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship Award “Pulmonary Lymphatic Endothelial Cell Remodeling in... More
2021 ATS Awards
Justin Lui, M.D. Pulmonary Fellow, Mentor: Klings/Wiener 2021 ATS Ziskind Clinical Research Scholar Award "The Ziskind Clinical Research Scholar Award is an ATS Scholarship Award that honors pulmonary and critical care fellows engaged in clinical research. The award was named after Morton Ziskind, MD, a highly respected clinician-researcher from Tulane University who died... More