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Respiratory

Research

Our long-standing basic and clinical research efforts into respiratory medicine span several areas.

Dr. Alia Bazzy-Asaad continues her research on the neuro-muscular physiology and sites of muscle fatigue, on mitochondrial gene regulation during low oxygen states and during chronic stress and on smooth muscle function. She is interested in the development of chronic asthma in children, and the pathogenesis of the inflammatory process in asthma. She investigates the genetic and environmental risk factors in asthma severity and the perinatal risk of asthma in infants of asthmatic mothers. In collaboration with Dr. Richard Bucala in the Department of Internal Medicine she has recently begun to examine the rold of MIF in lung development.

Dr. David Donnelly continues his work on the mechanism and development of carotid body chemoreception, particularly the carotid body transduction mechanisms of hypoxia and on the maturational differences that take place in the carotid bodies. His present work records and measures the magnitude and kinetics of sodium current in neurons which go to the carotid body, and subsequently analyze the mRNA from the recorded cells to identify the isoforms which are expressed. The hope is that understanding the molecular basis of function may lead to means to manipulate carotid body sensitivity for the treatment of respiratory disorders, such a COPD and SIDS.

Dr. Marie Egan continues her work on the CFTR channel, its regulation, and on the basic defect in Cystic Fibrosis. She has concentrated recently on structure-function relations, particularly ion transport across the airway. In addition the lab is interested in examining common CFTR mutations such as the ΔF508CFTR mutant, a mutation that results in a protein that is unable to fold correctly and assume its appropriate tertiary structure. A new and exciting finding is the work showing that curcumin, a component of the spice tumeric, when given to mice in vivo, appears to lead to correction of function of the mutant CFTR channel, as evidenced by a correction of the nasal epithelial electrical potential difference towards normal values.

Dr. Ying Xia studies molecular and developmental neuroscience, particularly the cellular mechanisms for hypoxia and neuronal excitability and new strategies for protection from cerebral ischemia. His laboratory mainly studies neuronal regulation during development and in response to hypoxia/ischemia with molecular, transgenic and electrophysiological techniques. In addition, his laboratory is collaborating with Chinese scientists to study the effects of acupuncture on neurological diseases. Ongoing projects are: 1) Hypoxia and neuronal excitability: cellular mechanisms; 2) Neuronal protection from hypoxia and ischemia; 3) Regulation of ionic transporters and exchangers during development and in hypoxia/ischemia; 4) Control of neurite growth during neuronal development and 5) Effects of electro-acupuncture on cerebral ischemia and epilepsy.

Dr. Sumit Bhargava studies obesity and its relationship to sleep disorders in children and the metabolic correlates of pediatric sleep disordered breathing.

Dr. Pnina Weiss studies reactive airways disease and chronic cough, as well as the monitoring and assessment of inflammation in patients with asthma.

Dr. Americo Esquibies investigates the effects of hypoxia and hyperoxia on lung morphogenesis, as well as the effect of hypoxia on the expression of prostaglandin D2 synthase in the heart and brain.

Dr. Farshid Ghassemi analyzes gene expression in carotid body and petrosal ganglion.

Exciting new information have resulted from work in our Section in the past few years in all of these areas, as seen in the publications in this past academic year and in the previous ones also.