BMC Seminar Thursday, May 24 at 12:00 in room 343 Læknagarður

Speaker: Jón Pétur Jóelsson, PhD student with Þórarinn Guðjónsson, Guðmundur Hrafn Guðmundsson and Sigurbergur Kárason

Title: Effect of mechanical- and chemical challenging on lung epithelial cells: The role of epithelial enhancing drugs

Abstract: The first part of my project involves mechanical ventilation and its effect on the lungs. Mechanical ventilation is a life saving therapy for a lot of intensive care patients, however, it can have a serious side effect known as ventilator induced lung injury or VILI. VILI can lead to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and it can exacerbate existing lung injury. There is no specific biomarker for ARDS or VILI and there is a need for a good in vitro model for inducing VILI or ARDS. We have established a cell culturing model that mimics mechanical ventilation on lung epithelial cells and could potentially be used as a drug testing platform. The second part of my project involves further characterization of the effect of azithromycin (AZM) on lung cells. AZM is one of the most prescribed antibiotics in the U.S., but aside from its bactericidal properties, it is also known to improve survival in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients. Using bronchial epithelial cell lines, our lab has shown that these beneficial effects may be due to increasing barrier integrity. Taking this work further we have seen evidence of AZM driving epidermal differentiation of bronchial derived cell lines.