We have developed new tools to enable us to investigate lung repair and to screen potential regenerative medicine treatments.
We established the Acid Injury and Repair (AIR) model in which a spatially restricted area of injury is administered to lung tissue slices with acid. This innovative approach provides an ex-vivo tool to study lung injury and repair. The AIR model will be invaluable to understand mechanisms of repair and screen potential regenerative medicine treatments.
Real-time imaging enables us to discover details about lung biology that are not possible using 2D/static imaging techniques. We established a novel model for long-term, live 3D imaging of lung slices; using this we were able to video alveoli forming for the first time. This led us to identify strategies adopted by epithelial cells to form alveoli which were previously unknown. We are using this tool to study alveolar development and identify potential novel treatments to manipulate lung repair.