Richard Bland
Academic Appointments
- Professor (Research), Pediatrics - Neonatology
Contact Information
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Clinical Offices
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit 725 Welch Rd 2 West Palo Alto, CA 94304 Tel Work (650) 497-8800Practices at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
- Academic Offices
Personal Information EmailAdministrative Contact Michelle Fox Administrative Associate Email Tel Work 723-8080
Professional Snapshot
Clinical Focus
- Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine
Honors and Awards
- Ogden C Bruton Award, Uniformed Services (1972, 1973)
- Established Investigator, American Heart Association (1979-1984)
- Distinguished Alumnus Award, Boston University School of Medicine (1996)
- Honorary Doctor of Medicine, University of Uppsala, Sweden (2004)
Professional Education
| Board Certification: | Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, American Board of Pediatrics (1975) |
| Fellowship: | UCSF Medical Center, CA (1975) |
| Board Certification: | General Pediatrics, American Board of Pediatrics (1971) |
| Residency: | Johns Hopkins University, MD (1969) |
| Internship: | Johns Hopkins University, MD (1967) |
Postdoctoral Advisees
Web Site Links
Scientific Focus
Research Interests
Our research program focuses on lung growth and development, and the adverse impact of prolonged mechanical ventilation on the incompletely formed lung, which in very premature infants often leads to a life-threatening condition that was first described as bronchopulmonary dysplasia (Northway WH Jr et al, Stanford University, New Engl J Med 276: 357-368, 1967). This form of neonatal chronic lung disease is the leading cause of long-term hospitalization and recurrent respiratory disorders seen in tiny infants who have been born at less than 28 weeks of gestation. Failed alveolar formation and excess, disordered lung elastin are prominent histological features of this disease, which in some ways resembles adult emphysema. We study the effects of mechanical ventilation, with either air or 40% O2, on genes and proteins that regulate lung growth and development in newborn mice, whose alveoli and pulmonary capillaries form mainly after birth at term gestation. As elastin plays a crucial role in lung growth and development (elastin-null mice die soon after birth from cardiorespiratory failure related to defective alveolar and lung vascular formation), we are especially interested in studying the effects of prolonged mechanical ventilation (cyclic lung stretch) with O2-rich gas (which is often needed to sustain life of extremely premature infants) on genes that regulate elastin synthesis and assembly, which in turn can affect lung septation and angiogenesis. We currently study the effects of lengthy mechanical ventilation on lungs of mutant newborn mice that have defects in elastin assembly and associated abnormalities of lung structure. Because mechanical ventilation of the developing lung can induce the release of proteolytic enzymes that break down elastin, we recently began to study the effects of mechanical ventilation with O2-rich gas in a transgenic mouse that over-expresses elafin, a potent inhibitor of serine elastase activity. We think that these studies will pave...
Publications
- Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation with Air Induces Apoptosis and Causes Failure of Alveolar Septation and Angiogenesis in Lungs of Newborn Mice. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2009
- Mechanical ventilation uncouples synthesis and assembly of elastin and increases apoptosis in lungs of newborn mice Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2008; (1): L3-L14
- Mechanical ventilation with 40% oxygen reduces pulmonary expression of genes that regulate lung development and impairs alveolar septation in newborn mice. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2007; (5): L1099-110
- Dysregulation of pulmonary elastin synthesis and assembly in preterm lambs with chronic lung disease. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2007; (6): L1370-84
- Neonatal chronic lung disease in the post-surfactant era. Biol Neonate. 2005; (3): 181-91
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