The Pulmonary Injury, Inflammation, and Repair Lab (PIIRL)

The goal of the PIIRL

Lung injury, or the more serious acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), is an important clinical problem with significant mortality caused by both direct (i.e. pneumonia) and indirect (i.e. sepsis) insults to the lung. Mortality in lung injury is due to tissue injury caused by dysfunction of microvascular endothelial cells (MVEC), leading to loss of barrier function and influx of inflammatory cells. Despite intensive research, no effective therapy for lung injury exists. Thus, the goal of our work in the PIIRL is to identify critical mediators of MVEC dysfunction and inflammation during lung injury, and thereby discover novel therapeutic targets.