Jón Pétur Jóelsson

2022 – Present                 Post-Doc, University of Iceland, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Science, SCRU laboratory and Landspitali University Hospital ICU      
2017 – 2020                      PhD, University of Iceland, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Science,    SCRU laboratory
2013 – 2015                      MSc, NTNU, Trondheim, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Biotechnology    and Food Science
2010 – 2013                      University of Akureyri, Faculty of Natural Resource Sciences, Department of Biotechnology

Long-term ventilator treatment in patients with severe respiratory failure often results in ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI), making effective management of the condition more complicated. We are investigating the mechanisms leading to VILI and the potential use of a novel protective treatment approach.

Collaboration between Landspitali-ICU and the SCRU lab resulted in a novel method to study VILI in vitro, using an in-house generated cyclical pressure air-liquid interface device (CPAD).

Azithromycin (AZM) is a macrolide that has beneficial effects in various respiratory diseases through antibacterial and non-antibiotic mechanisms. Studies, including our own, indicate that AZM increases epithelial barrier integrity, decreases epithelial permeability, modulates inflammatory responses, and influences lipid metabolism. AZM has also been reported to confer some anti-oxidative qualities. The processes behind these actions remain elusive but have been a major interest of our collaborative research projects for several years. One of the focuses of our research is the ability of AZM to increase the resilience of the lung epithelium to infection and mechanical stress, pertinent to VILI. However, long term use of AZM leads to increased antibiotic resistance among microorganisms, an increasing and serious problem worldwide. Therefore, the pharmaceutical company EpiEndo has developed derivative compounds of AZM without its antibiotic function, named barriolides.

Currently we are investigating the effects of AZM and the barriolides on cyclically challenged lung cells, along with conducting in vivo experiments.

Current lab members:
Árni Ásbjarnarson, PhD student
Hildur Rún Helgudóttir, PhD student
Ragnheiður Olga Þórarinsdóttir, MSc student
Svandís Davíðsdóttir, MSc student
Soffía Rún Skúladóttir, MSc student

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