Mucosal Biology Research Center

Located in state-of-the-art research space in the new Health Science Facility II, this unique research center brings together basic and applied investigators in pulmonary and gastrointestinal diseases, focusing on processes that occur at the mucosal surface, including:

• Regulation of barrier function;
• Regulation of mucosal innate and adaptive immunity;
• Mechanisms of inflammation;
• Interaction between mucosa and environment (e.g. bacterial endotoxin LPS);
• Pathogen:mucosal interactions causing inflammation or invasive disease;
• Potential sites of both gastrointestinal and respiratory mucosa for drug and antigen delivery;
• Mechanisms of mucosal injury and restitution;
• Mechanisms of cell:cell interactions and its relationship to homeostasis and disease;
• The role of apoptosis in mucosal injury and healing; and
• Cytokine and chemokine expression and their roles in mucosal inflammation and host defense.

In addition, interaction between the gut and lung underlies several important diseases including asthma, adult respiratory disease (ARDS), and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS)/sepsis.