PhD Lung-on-chip to capture cell interplay in chronic obstructive lung disease

COPD is triggered by exposure to inhaled harmful environmental agents with cigarette smoking representing the major contributor. The disease is characterized by progressive airflow obstruction and chronic neutrophilic inflammation in the airway lumen, and is complicated by recurrent infectious exacerbations. Abnormal responses of the airway epithelium to the environmental triggers are believed to contribute to the pathogenesis of COPD and the dysregulation of the complex interactions between the different cell types from the lung airway tissues is likely contributing to these abnormal responses. In this project, the dynamic response and cross talk between the airway epithelium and underlying microvascular endothelium will be examined when the cells are exposed as in vivo to cyclic stretching reproducing breathing movement, shear stress due to fluid circulation and COPD related triggers. An airway-on-a-chip approach is used to recapitulate the complex in vivo cellular microenvironment of human airway epithelial and pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells using different models (healthy, early and late diseased) to study cross-talk in early disease and how it evolves with disease progression. The PhD project involves collection and handling of the airway epithelial and pulmonary vascular endothelial cells for the lung-on-chip models, exposing these cells to the different triggers, and performing the data analysis.