Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

ICS Travel Awards The lung is a highly sensitive organ that is bombarded by external noxious agents and environmental stress, such as bacterial infections, chemicals and pollutants and surgical intervention. The epithelial cells within the lung act as the first line of defense to protect and repair the lung after injury. A novel protein, XB130 is a very important factor for the maintenance of cells and is also highly expressed in lung epithelial cells. Thus, XB130 may promote the growth, survival and movement of these specific cells to better repair the lung after injury. Currently, we use isolated lung epithelial cells and molecular biology techniques to investigate the role of XB130 in cell maintenance and movement. We have discovered that XB130 interacts with other proteins to promote the growth, health and movement of lung epithelial cells. Further investigation of this essential protein will help us to better understand the foundations of how lung repair occurs and at what stages of lung repair is the XB130 protein active. Knowledge of the foundations of lung repair and critical protein involvement can then be used to develop treatments to more efficiently treat lung injury.