Profile
Project Title:
Nanoscale Lung Maps in Health and Respiratory Disease
Project Summary:
In diseases such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), goblet cells produce and release excessive amounts of mucus. Excessive mucus in the airways forms mucus plugs, which obstruct airflow into the lungs and contribute to molecular cascades that lead to airway remodelling observed in the disease state.
In my project, I aim to compare the airway epithelium in healthy and diseased conditions, focusing on goblet cell number, size, morphology, and location. To achieve this objective, I will utilise images from electron and super-resolution fluorescent microscopy.
Building upon this comparison, and using single-cell proteomics data, I aim to identify proteins responsible for the increased number of goblet cells caused by metaplasia (epithelial cell differentiation into goblet cells), as well as those driving excessive mucus production and release into the airway lumen.
Finally, I will validate the identified proteins as potential druggable targets, utilising CRISPR-Cas9 knockouts in an airway epithelium model.
Supervisors: