Derek Pociask, PhD, School of Medicine
Our lab is focused on immune responses in the lung during viral infections. We are particularly interested in how the immune system promotes specific epithelial cell types to help repair the lung after infection. We have a mix of undergraduate and graduate students and collaborate with PhD and Physician Scientists.
Current bench science projects:
Studying the differences in response between flu and COVID19 and how that impacts chronic disease outcomes. The timelines for these projects would be 1-4 yrs depending. Some aspects of this work can be cell culture and short-term (6 months).
Growing human lung progenitor cells and studying what induces them to proliferate or differentiate during viral pneumonias. These are in vitro experiments that could be done over a summer or over the course of 1-2 yrs.
Studying immune transport between the lung and lymph nodes and how cytokines such as IL-22 may impact this and immune memory. These experiments are mostly observational in vivo outcomes with an emphasis on immunostaining and microscopy. Can vary in timeline.
Studying the impact of recent thymic emigrants in the lung during viral infections. These funded studies are investigating the importance of the thymus during pulmonary infections. It has long been thought that the thymus is not important after the first few years of life. Our data suggests the opposite and we propose that having thymic output during infection helps reduce life threatening inflammation. These studies can be anywhere from 6 months to 4 years with aspects involving in vivo mouse models, in vitro precision cut thymus slices and cell culture. RNA sequencing of RTEs and other inflammatory cells is planned.
Review article- The importance of thymic output during infection (working title). This involves following an outline, doing thorough literature searches and writing. It can take as long as the student(s) need to get done.
