Honors & News

Congratulations to Lung Biology Program members Drs. Georas, Mariani and Dean who all received the following grants:

P.I.: Steve Georas, MD
NIH/NIAA

Award Number : 1 R01 AI144241-01A1

Title of Project: Novel role of protein kinase D in airway inflammation and antiviral immunity

Project Period: 3/13/20 -- 2/28/25?

P.I.: Tom Mariani, PhD

Agency: CTSI Pilot Project Program/NIH

Award Period: 7/1/20 -- 1/31/21

Total Award (TPC): $50,000

Title: Airway Biomarkers for Prediction of ARI Etiology (Internal Grant)

The overall goal of this project is to show that airway sampling will provide optimal diagnostic biomarkers for determining bacterial involvement in ARI.

P.I.: David Dean ,PhD

Agency: NIH/NHLBI

Award Period: 4/5/20- 3/31/24

Total Award (TPC): $2,298,764

Title: A multimodal delivery and treatment approach for Acute Lung Injury (R01)

This projects investigates how gene transfer of the b1 subunit of the Na,K-ATPase to the lung increases not only alveolar fluid clearance, but also improves alveolar-capillary barrier function by up regulating abundance and activity of tight and adherent junction complexes.

P.I.: David Dean, PhD

Agency: NIH/NIDDK

Award Period: 4/15/20 -- 3/31/23

Total Award (TPC): $1,588,524

Title: Gene therapy for GERD-associated esophageal epithelial barrier dysfunction (R01)

Gen transfer of the b1 subunit of the Na,K-ATPase can upregulate tight and adherence junctions abundance and activity in the lung. Since a hallmark of gastroeosphageal reflux disease (GERD) is reduced barrier function in the distal esophagus (which may play a role in ultimate transition to esophageal adenocarcinoma), this project investigates whether gene delivery of the b1 subunit of the Na,K-ATPase can restore esophageal barrier integrity and therefore reduce GERD.

P.I.: David Dean, PhD

Agency: Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

Award Period: 2-1-20 -- 1-31-23

Total Award (TPC): $840,000

Title: : Electroporation-mediated gene delivery to the airways to treat Cystic Fibrosis (grant)

This project investigates whether electroporation-mediated gene transfer can be used to effectively sustain long-term expression of CFTR in animal models. If successful, the project may lead to the development of new therapies designed to treat people with cystic fibrosis.