About the Smith Lab for Pulmonary Immunotoxicology
The overarching focus of my laboratory’s NIEHS funded research is to investigate signaling mechanisms driving sexual dimorphism in lung disease caused by inhalation of air pollutants and other respiratory hazards. Present studies are focused on investigating a role for estrogen receptor alpha (ERa) signaling mechanisms in regulating macrophage activation in response to ozone exposure. These experiments utilize techniques including flow cytometry, live cell bioenergetic measurements, single-cell RNA-sequencing, lung function analyses, and histopathological assessments to investigate the role of various inflammatory signaling mechanisms in wild type and transgenic mouse models.
Undergraduate researcher, Suheera Haq, has received a 2024 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship award from the UConn Office of Undergraduate Research to support her summer research project focused on investigating the role of an epigenetic reader protein, Bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4), in lung injury and inflammation caused by exposure to chlorine gas. Congratulations, Suheera!!
Dr. Smith's recently published manuscript titled, "Role of PPARγ in dyslipidemia and altered pulmonary functioning in mice following ozone exposure" was highlighted as a featured article in the July issue of Toxicological Sciences. In this manuscript, Dr. Smith and his co-authors found that administration of a PPARγ agonist (rosiglitazone) restored normal pulmonary function and decreased […]
