Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine

Chen Lab

Dr. Chen’s primary research interest is in the study of molecular  mechanisms controlling inflammation  and cell proliferation  via protein ubiquitination.     Dr. Chen’s  second  area of research  interest  is small molecule  drug design.  He has successfully  designed  and synthesized  a novel  series  of first-in-class small  molecule  FBXO3 protein inhibitors.  His long-term  goal is to develop a new class of therapeutics  to combat inflammatory  diseases focusing on a novel mechanism.  |  Lab Website

Beibei (Bill) Chen, PhD
Principal Investigator

Corcoran Lab

Dr. Corcoran’s research focuses include the development of inhaled medications and aerosol-based nuclear imaging of the lungs. This includes measurements of mucociliary clearance and airway surface liquid absorption in adult and pediatric cystic fibrosis patients. These techniques have also been applied in other patients groups including asthma, congenital heart disease, and muscular dystrophy patients. He has active collaborations with the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon University to design self-dispersing aerosol drugs and the Chemical Engineering Department at Pitt to develop computer models of liquid and ion transport across the airway epithelium.

Tim Corcoran, PhD
Principal Investigator

Gladwin Lab

Dr. Gladwin’s clinical research and expertise focuses on pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary complications of sickle cell disease.  Since 1998, Dr. Gladwin’s research has led to four scientific discoveries: 1) the nitrite anion is a circulating storage pool for NO bioactivity that regulates hypoxic vasodilation and the cellular resilience to low oxygen and ischemia; 2) a novel physiological function for hemoglobin as an electronically- and allosterically-regulated nitrite reductase; 3) the characterization of a novel mechanism of disease, hemolysis-associated endothelial dysfunction; and 4) the mechanistic, clinical, and epidemiological description of a human disease syndrome, hemolysis-associated pulmonary hypertension.

Mark Gladwin, MD
Principal Investigator

Goncharova Lab

Dr. Goncharova’s research interests have focused on the signaling mechanisms regulating cellular energy metabolism, proliferation, motility and survival as it relates to the pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). Her current work specifically focuses on the role of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling network in metabolism, proliferation, and survival of pulmonary vascular smooth muscle cells in PAH.

Kass Lab

Daniel  J Kass,  MD  is the  Director,  Dorothy  P. and  Richard  P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Diseases and a clinician scientist who specializes in the care of patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD), and, particularly, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).  Because IPF is currently untreatable,  his research has focused on identifying novel and personalized therapies for patients who suffer from IPF, using two distinct aspects of the biology of fibroblasts—the principal effectors of pulmonary fibrosis: how fibroblasts interact with the immune system to regulate inflammation in pulmonary fibrosis and how the endogenous hormone relaxin may regulate the differentiation of fibroblasts into the highly active scarring cells known as myofibroblasts.

Daniel Kass, MD
Principal Investigator

Lee Lab

Broadly speaking, Dr. Lee studies host susceptibility to lung injury and the role of phagocytes that orchestrate and participate in the injury response as well as aid in the repair and resolution of inflammation. Utilizing a repertoire of relevant injury models including bacterial pneumonia, sterile LPS-induced lung injury, chronic cigarette smoke exposure and RBC transfusion, she studies innate immune activation signals triggered during lung inflammation and subsequent de-activation signals requisite for appropriate resolution.

Janet S. Lee, MD
Principal Investigator

McDyer Lab

As Director of the Lung Transplantation Translational Research Program, Dr. McDyer is keenly interested in the mechanisms of tolerance and rejection, host defense and ischemic reperfusion injury. Using the mouse orthotopic lung transplant model and the heterotopic tracheal transplant model, he specifically addresses the regulation of cytokine responses in rejection and how different cytokine milieus lead to variable rejection pathology.  Dr. McDyer also studies the immune mechanisms of ischemic  reperfusion injury in the mouse orthotopic lung transplant model and using human PBMC subjected to in vitro hypoxia.

John McDyer, MD
Principal Investigator

Mora Lab

Dr. Mora’s research is focused in the understanding of the pathogenesis of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) and pulmonary arterial hypertension  (PAH). Because aging a major risk factor for IPF, she studies the role of mitochondria dysfunction and altered proteostasis in the aging lung epithelial cell in the activation of pro-fibrotic responses. She has found that mitochondrial quality control has a critical role in the genesis of aging related susceptibility to lung fibrosis. Her research is aimed to identify novel diagnostic and therapeutic mitochondrial targets to control lung fibrosis.  In parallel, her laboratory analyzes the role of mitochondrial homeostasis in vascular remodeling and the pathogenesis of PAH.

Ana L. Mora, MD
Principal Investigator

Morris Lab

The type of studies performed by Dr. Morris’ group include large cohort epidemiologic studies of lung disease and respiratory symptoms, translational studies in which physiologic and molecular techniques are applied to patient populations, and collaborations with co-investigators utilizing non-human primate models of disease.  Dr. Morris’ research interests focus in several overlapping areas including HIV-associated lung disease, HIV-associated emphysema, and the role of Pneumocystis in COPD.

Alison Morris, MD, MS
Principal Investigator

Myerberg Lab

Dr. Myerburg’s primary research interest is to determine the mechanisms and pathological conditions associated with hydration of the airway lumen. His research uses in vitro and in vivo techniques to understand the ion transport proteins involved in maintain optimal airway surface liquid volume in health and how alterations in these processes results in dysfunctional mucuociliary clearance from the lung in cystic fibrosis, asthma, and related airway diseases.

Michael Myerberg, MD
Principal Investigator

O’Donnell Lab

Dr. O’Donnell’s interests are in the pathophysiology of hypoxia and sleep apnea and its relationship to metabolic and cardiovascular dysfunction. His laboratory utilizes murine models of obesity and hypoxia using a variety of chronically instrumented inbred and transgenic mouse strains.

Christopher O’Donnell, PhD
Principal Investigator

Pilewski Lab

Co-director of the Adult Cystic Fibrosis program at UPMC, Dr. Pilewski’s research centers on Cystic Fibrosis and other suppurative lung diseases, both pre- and post-transplant. He works towards improving post‐transplant outcomes particularly in this patient population, including in patients who are colonized with drug resistant organisms. He also serves as principal investigator of a lung tissue bank that makes explanted lung samples available to investigators studying Cystic Fibrosis and other end stage lung diseases. Lastly, he is collaborating with Dr. Andrej Petrov on studies of hypogammaglobulinemia in lung transplant recipients

Joseph Pilewski, MD
Principal Investigator

A. Ray Lab

The primary goal of Dr. Ray’s research is to understand immune mechanisms involving interactions between dendritic cells (DCs), T helper cells and T regulatory cells as they relate to the regulation of chronic inflammatory diseases in the lung and the gut such as asthma and inflammatory bowel disease. She is also interested in mucosal defense mechanisms against infectious agents. All studies in her laboratory employ genetically altered mice and various immunological, molecular, biochemical and imaging techniques.

Anuradha Ray, PhD
Principal Investigator

P. Ray Lab

Ongoing research in Dr. Ray’s laboratory encompasses two major areas, which are studies of innate immune mechanisms that mediate resolution of lung inflammation and protect from lung injury after pneumonia and the impact of early life viral infections on immunoregulatory mechanisms in the lung. He is particularly interested in differences in host defense mechanisms between newborns and older adults that causes increased susceptibility to respiratory viruses in early rather than in later life.

Prabir Ray, PhD
Principal Investigator

Rojas Lab

Dr. Rojas is the Scientific Director of the Dorothy P. and Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Diseases. His research focuses on finding the role of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in lung repair after injury. Dr. Rojas’s immediate goal is to expand the understanding of the immune and cellular mechanisms used by mesenchymal stem cells to prevent lung injury, as well as the regulation of their migration and recruitment to the injury site. Most recently he has expanded his area of interest on the consequences of aging in the predisposition of lung diseases, allowing the designation of better clinical trials according to the type of injury that is suffering the lung. By translating this knowledge into clinic, Dr. Rojas hopes to complete his long-term goal: better conditions of life on patients with lung diseases.

Mauricio Rojas, MD

Principal Investigator

Sundd Lab

Dr. Sundd’s research focuses on the mechanisms of leukocyte rolling and arrest during inflammation; the role of neutrophils in pulmonary vaso-occlusion during sickle cell disease Acute Chest Syndrome; and identifying molecular mechanism of vaso-occlusion in SCD (SS) patient blood.

Prithu Sundd, PhD
Principal Investigator

Zhang Lab

Dr. Zhang is interested in the molecular and genetic basis of IPF, COPD and other lung diseases. Her research is focused on the identification of both genes and peripheral biomarkers associated with the development of IPF and COPD and/or associated with the disease progression/outcome of these patients. Her laboratory is also conducting research to dissect the genetic basis of disease biomarkers for IPF and COPD. She directs the Translational Research Core Lab that is responsible for the sample processing/banking and peripheral biomarker analysis.

Yingze Zhang, PhD
Principal Investigator