Basic Research Programs
The Cornfield Lab
Oxygen Sensing in the Transitional Pulmonary Circulation
Over the past 20 years, the Cornfield Laboratory has focused upon basic, translational and clinical research, with a primary focus on lung biology. As an active clinician-scientist, delivering care to acutely and chronically ill infants and children, I have noted the evolution of chronic and acute lung diseases in infants and children in terms of disease manifestation, diagnosis, management and epidemiology. Accordingly, the areas of emphasis of the laboratory continue to evolve, shift, and even occasionally change entirely. Currently, the Laboratory is engaged in 4 distinct, but related areas of research.
The Kuo Lab
Development and Function of Pulmonary Neuroendocrine Cells
Pulmonary neuroendocrine cells are specialized cells with sensory, secretory, and stem cell functions and many form highly innervated clusters of cells. Abnormal distributions of NE cells throughout the lung are associated with pediatric respiratory conditions such as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), premature birth, and cell hyperplasia as well as the most aggressive human lung cancer. The Kuo lab is using single cell genetic approaches to perform a comprehensive study of NE cell development and now using single cell whole genome RNA sequencing to reveal diversity of NE cells in development and signaling function.