Basic Research Program

The mission of the basic research program is to elucidate the mechanisms of lung development and inflammation using state-of-the-art techniques in cellular and molecular physiology. In addition, the program provides research opportunities in basic molecular and cellular biology for clinical fellows in the USC Division of Neonatal Medicine. See the Neonatal Fellowship Program. There are currently five postdoctoral fellows working on various aspects of lung morphogenesis. The general approach has been to identify and characterize the role of key transcription and signaling factors in fetal lung development. Another major thrust of the basic research program has been the elucidation of the role played by inflammation in the pathogenesis of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in very low birth weight infants. Based on the results of the past ten years of research activity, we have focused our efforts on the characterization of two molecules, TGF-beta and IL-10, with emphasis on their potential role in the pathogenesis of BPD.

Amongst a number of important contributions, our group was the first to report:

• The critical role played by a Nkx2.1, a gene encoding a homeodomain transcription factor (Minoo et al., Developmental Biology, 172:694-698, 1995)
• Reduced or absent IL-10 production in the lungs of preterm infants (Jones et al., Pediatric Research, 39:966-975, 1996)
• The role of the Wnt signaling in lung morphogenesis (Li et al., Developmental Biology, 248:68-81, 2002)

The basic research activities of the USC Division of Neonatal Medicine are funded by RO1 and PO1 grants from the National Institutes of Health, research grants from the American Lung Association and generous funds provided by the Hastings Foundation.

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