Justin Hosten
BME PhD Proposal Presentation
Date: 2023-01-10
Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Location / Meeting Link: EBB CHOA Seminar Room/https://gatech.zoom.us/j/98045120442
Committee Members:
Krishnendu Roy, Ph.D. (Advisor); Rabindra Tirouvanziam, Ph.D.; Karmella Haynes, Ph.D.; Shuichi Takayama, Ph.D.; Jamal Lewis, Ph.D.
Title: Development of lung-like macrophages from blood monocytes: a new tool to study human airway immunity
Abstract:
Epithelial cells, resident macrophages and recruited neutrophils are heavily involved in homeostasis and defenses in the deep pulmonary environment. Each cell type interacts heavily with the other two in order to control and manipulate the pulmonary environment to ensure balance is maintained. Currently, there are significant fields of research that are dedicated to looking at epithelial cells and recruited neutrophils, but comparatively, resident macrophages are not as well researched. A current obstacle in learning more about this cell type is the lack of a physiological relevant in vitro method in producing the cells. Currently, macrophages that are used in pulmonary applications are created by isolating monocytes from a source, adding a growth factor and culturing the cells on a surface for a time while they undergo differentiation. While this method does produce monocytes derived macrophages, compared to alveolar macrophages or in vivo monocyte derived macrophages, these produced cells differ in their phenotype, secretion profile, transcriptome, and function. In this research, we aim to address this issue by using a developed transmigration in vitro model to produce transmigrated monocyte derived macrophages (TMDMs) that will replicate the behavior of alveolar macrophages, demonstrate their abilities, and provide more research in the resident macrophage realm. The transmigration model contains a monolayer of airway epithelial cells that innate immune cells, like neutrophils and monocytes, are able to undergo transmigration through. The overall object is to (i) assess the in vitro replication of pulmonary immune cell behavior from primary blood cells and (ii) evaluate the targeting of nanoparticle-in-microgel in a complex pulmonary microenvironment. This proposed project will lead to the full development of cells that can be manipulated and give great insight to how airway immunity functions.