Funded Projects

COVID-19 infection can result in long-term sequelae such as the development of interstitial lung diseases including lung fibrosis. Lung fibrosis is a spatially heterogeneous disease that features the progression of disease from the lung periphery to the lung center. Understanding the factors that drive the spatial progression of lung fibrosis will help to develop the therapies that can stop the disease progression, but little is known about the mechanism in this area. Spatial-omics including spatial transcriptomics and spatial proteomics are novel techniques that can allow the analysis of disease events with preserved spatial resolution; thus, they are very suitable for the study of the progression of lung fibrosis. In this project, the PI propose to develop a DBiT-seq spatial transcriptomics technique in collaboration with a group at Yale University and apply this technique to the analysis of COVID-19 interstitial lung disease samples. The completion of this project will allow the collection of preliminary data for major federal grant submissions.