Grant: Canada Research Chairs

Finding Cures for the Incurable: Combining Tissue Engineering & Imaging to Understand Fibrosis Fibrosis, which can occur in such tissues as the lungs, liver, heart, and brain, is a hallmark of several diseases including certain types of cancer, atherosclerosis, and asthma. The fibrosis process occurs when wound healing mechanisms – the beneficial tissue remodelling processes – go awry, leading to overgrowth, hardening, and/or scarring of various tissues. Characteristic accumulation of excess collagen and remodelling are contributing factors to asthma, among other diseases. Asthma is a Canadian and worldwide public health problem. One of the most common chronic respiratory diseases in Canada, it affects 1 in 12 Canadians or ~8% of the national population. In Canada, the direct costs of asthma are estimated to be $41 billion per year (~13% of Canadian health care funding), making it the second most expensive disease to treat. Current treatments, which only relieve patient symptoms, are unable to reverse the disease process. Healthy lungs inflate and deflate as we breathe due to a net of collagen and elastic fibers, part of an intricate network called the extracellular matrix (ECM), which provides a structure for cell movement and function. Asthma patients have difficulty breathing because the tubes (airways) that carry air in and out of the lungs become scarred and obstructed by continuous injuries. This constant injury results in a build-up of scarring due to non-elastic fibres, such as collagen, that change the ECM structure and modify cell behaviour. However, key fundamental processes associated with fibrosis and changes in tissues are still very poorly understood. Dr. Mostaço-Guidolin’s ambitious research combines tissue engineering with high-resolution imaging to design artificial tissues to mimic airway injury and repair. Recovery from injury requires the coordinated activation of a variety of different pathways, including cells and certain ECM alterations. Using microscopy imaging technologies, Dr. Mostaço-Guidolin will look at changes happening within the ECM with an unprecedented level of detail. In the long term, this research will guide the identification of new targets for the development of new medications not only for asthma, but for a range of widespread, deadly, and otherwise incurable fibrotic diseases that affect the lives of many Canadians.