Home  > Clinical Sections & Programs  > Respiratory  > Research

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. 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. Another area of interest is the relationship between metabolic abnormalities and obstructive sleep apnea in obese children. In collaboration with Drs. Sonia Caprio and Sumit Bhargava, she is investigating how obstructive sleep apnea may actually contribute to the insulin resistance in children with metabolic syndrome.

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 neuronal excitability during hypoxia and new strategies for neuroprotection from hypoxic/ischemic injury 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; and 4) Effects of electro-acupuncture on cerebral ischemia and epilepsy. Xia Lab

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. This work is done in collaboration with Dr. Lloyd Cantley in the Department of Internal Medicine. He is also examining the effect of hypoxia on the expression of prostaglandin D2 synthase in the heart and brain.

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.