Badiallo Diani
BME PhD Proposal Presentation
Date: 2025-08-29
Time: 9:30 am-11:30 am
Location / Meeting Link: IBB Suddath Room 1128| Teams
Committee Members:
Dr. Shuichi Takayama [Co-Advisor]; Dr. Anne Fitzpatrick [Co-Advisor]; Dr. Marian Ackun-Farmmer; Dr. Edward Botchwey; Dr. Jocelyn Grunwell; Dr. Aniruddh Sarkar.
Title: Modeling Systemic IL-13 Exposure to Study Airway Barrier Integrity and Pediatric Asthma-Relevant Functional Responses.
Abstract:
Allergic asthma pathogenesis is characterized by airway inflammation, barrier dysfunction, and immune cell recruitment, processes in which IL-13 plays a central role. However, most in vitro models lack the ability to dynamically replicate these interactions across the air-blood barrier or to observe barrier recovery following cytokine removal. This study utilizes a human co-culture model of primary airway epithelium and microvascular endothelium to examine how graded systemic IL-13 exposure alters barrier integrity/function, recovery, and immune cell recruitment at the air-liquid interface, similar to how allergic asthma develops in children. Preliminary findings demonstrate that chronic endothelial IL-13 exposure induces TEER reduction and loss of epithelial adherens junctions. It also increases neutrophil transmigration without a chemoattractant, which is one of the most innovative features of this platform due to its ability to generate single-cell evidence of immune cell extravasation through two distinct cell layers while at ALI—an approach rarely achieved in other airway models. Building on these results, upcoming work will integrate quantitative assessments of monocyte migration, presence of epithelial tight junction, recovery kinetics, and cytokine-induced modulation of VEGF and MUC5AC production to dissect the mechanistic drivers of IL-13–mediated barrier disruption. This model can be readily adapted to test additional cytokines such as IL-4 or IL-5, incorporate immune effector cells such as Th2 cells or eosinophils, and evaluate candidate therapeutics. This versatility makes it a valuable tool for future mechanistic studies, drug screening, and translational applications in allergic airway disease.
